3 Resistor Color Code Lab Exercise (Page 2 of 4) in pdf

3 Resistor Color Code Lab Exercise Page 2

For example, a resistor with the color code brown-red-orange-silver would correspond to 1 2 followed by 3

zeroes, or 12,000 Ohms (more conveniently, 12 k Ohms). It would have a tolerance of 10% of 12 k Ohms

or 1200 Ohms. This means that the actual value of any particular resistor with this code could be anywhere

between 12,000-1200=10,800, to 12,000+1200=13,200. That is, 10.8 k to 13.2 k Ohms. Note, the IEC

standard replaces the decimal point with the engineering prefix, thus 1.2 k is alternately written 1k2.

Similarly, a 470 k 5% resistor would have the color code yellow-violet-yellow-gold. To help remember the

color code many mnemonics have been created using the first letter of the colors to create a sentence. One

example is the picnic mnemonic Black Bears Robbed Our Yummy Goodies Beating Various Gray Wolves.

Measurement of resistors with a DMM is a very straight forward process. Simply set the DMM to the

resistance function and choose the first scale that is higher than the expected value. Clip the leads to the

resistor and record the resulting value.

Equipment

(1) Digital Multimeter

serial number:__________________

Procedure

1. Given the nominal values and tolerances in Table 3.1, determine and record the corresponding color

code bands.

2. Given the color codes in Table 3.2, determine and record the nominal value, tolerance and the minimum

and maximum acceptable values.

3. Obtain a resistor equal to the first value listed in Table 3.3. Determine the minimum and maximum

acceptable values based on the nominal value and tolerance. Record these values in Table 3.3. Using

the DMM, measured the actual value of the resistor and record it in Table 3.3. Determine the deviation

percentage of this component and record it in Table 3.3. The deviation percentage may be found via:

Deviation = 100 * (measured-nominal)/nominal. Circle the deviation if the resistor is out of tolerance.

4. Repeat Step 3 for the remaining resistor in Table 3.3.

Data Tables

3 Resistor Color Code Lab Exercise Page 2