Resistor Color Code Calculator
Pick the bands to read a resistor's value and tolerance, or enter a value to see its bands
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Pick the colour bands of a resistor to see its value, tolerance and allowed range, or enter a value to see its bands and the nearest standard values. It also reads chip resistor codes and ceramic capacitor codes such as 104.
How to use
- On "Colour bands", choose the "Number of bands" (3 to 6).
- Tap a band on the drawing or a button and pick its colour; "Resistance", "Tolerance" and "Allowed range" appear.
- To find the colours for a value, type it under "Find the bands for a value", such as 4k7 or 220. Tap a nearest standard value to use it.
- For chip resistors use the "Chip resistor code" tab, and for capacitors the "Capacitor code" tab.
How it works
- The colours follow IEC 60062 and are listed on the "Colour table" tab: black 0, brown 1, red 2, orange 3, yellow 4, green 5, blue 6, violet 7, grey 8, white 9.
- Four bands are digit, digit, multiplier and tolerance; five bands have three digits. A sixth band is the temperature coefficient. No tolerance band means ±20%.
- Standard values are taken from the E6, E12, E24 and E96 series.
Questions and answers
- How do I read resistor colour bands?
- Start from the end the bands are closer to. Brown, black, orange, gold means 1, 0, × 1,000 and ±5%, so 10 kΩ ±5%.
- What value is a 472 chip resistor?
- The first two digits are the value and the last digit is the number of zeros: 47 × 10² = 4.7 kΩ. In a code such as 4R7, the R is the decimal point, so it is 4.7 Ω.
- What is the capacitance of a 104 capacitor?
- 10 × 10⁴ pF = 100,000 pF = 100 nF (0.1 µF). A letter after the code, such as K or J, is the tolerance.
- What are the colour bands for 4.7 kΩ?
- On a 4-band 5% resistor: yellow, violet, red, gold. On 5 bands: yellow, violet, black, brown, then the tolerance band.