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4 band resistor calculator
Bands
Band 1
Band 2
Multiplier
Tolerance
Resistance 1 kΩ
Digit, digit, ×multiplier, ±tolerance
In ohms 1,000 Ω
In kilohms 1 kΩ
Tolerance 5 %
Lowest allowed 950 Ω
Highest allowed 1,050 Ω
Two digits · ×multiplier · ±tolerance
The colour code
| Colour | Digit | Multiplier | Tolerance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 0 | ×1 | — |
| Brown | 1 | ×10 | ±1% |
| Red | 2 | ×100 | ±2% |
| Orange | 3 | ×1k | — |
| Yellow | 4 | ×10k | — |
| Green | 5 | ×100k | ±0.5% |
| Blue | 6 | ×1M | ±0.25% |
| Violet | 7 | ×10M | ±0.1% |
| Grey | 8 | ×100M | ±0.05% |
| White | 9 | ×1G | — |
| Gold | — | ×0.1 | ±5% |
| Silver | — | ×0.01 | ±10% |
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320 × 100
A four-band resistor reads as digit, digit, multiplier, tolerance. Yellow-violet-red-gold is 4 then 7, times 100, so 4.7 kΩ at ±5% — meaning anywhere between 4.465 and 4.935 kΩ.
How to read a 4 band resistor
1 Put the gold or silver band on the right.
2 Read the first two colours as digits.
3 The third is the number of zeros — the multiplier.
4 The fourth is the tolerance.
Four bands is the code you will meet most often, because it is the standard marking for the E12 and E24 series that make up ordinary 5% and 2% stock. Two significant digits is exactly enough for those series: every E12 value has two digits, from 10 through 82. If a resistor needs three digits to express, such as 4.99 kΩ, it belongs to a tighter series and will carry five bands instead. So the band count itself tells you something about the precision before you read a single colour.
Questions
4.7 kΩ at ±5%. Yellow is 4, violet is 7, red multiplies by 100.
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300 × 250
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