How To Calculate Resistance Value From Resistor Stripe Color | 4, 5, And 6 Stripes

The resistor is an electronic component that is used to adjust the electric current in a circuit. Its shape is like a small cylinder that is a little bit slimmer in the middle. There usually is some color stripes that embedded on them, commonly four, but can also have five to six stripes.

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Here is the table of each value the colors represent:

Color	Number Represented	Multiplier	Tolerance (%)	Temperature Coefficient (ppm/oC)
Black	0	100 or 1	-	-
Brown	1	101 or 10	± 1	100
Red	2	102 or 100	± 2	50
Orange	3	103 or 1000	-	15
Yellow	4	104 or 10000	-	25
Green	5	105 or 100000	± 0.5	-
Blue	6	106 or 1000000	± 0.25	-
Violet	7	107 or 10000000	± 0.1	-
Grey	8	108 or 100000000	-	-
White	9	109 or 1000000000	-	-
Gold	-	10-1 or 0.1	± 5	-
Silver	-	10-2 or 0.01	± 10	-
No Color	-	-	± 20	-

Note:

• Gold and silver color usually seem shiny.

• Temperature coefficient signifies a change of resistance when there's temperature alteration. The base temperature is the room temperature (25^oC).

How to Calculate

4 Stripes Formula

Four Striped Resistor

1st stripe: 1st digit

2nd stripe: 2nd digit

3rd stripe: multiplier

4th stripe: tolerance

Example:

4 Stripes Example 1

1st stripe: red = 2

2nd stripe: black = 0

3rd stripe: orange = 10³

4th stripe: no colors = ± 20%

so its resistance is

20 x 10³ ± 20% Ω

or 20000 ± 20% Ω

or 20 ± 20% kΩ

or 20 ± 4 kΩ

or 16 ~ 24 kΩ


Note:

• How to know "no color" stripe? When there are only three stripes, it means the 4th is "no color" stripe because there's no three-striped only resistor.

• "No color" does not represent any number so they can only become later stripe not the 1st or 2nd stripe, so it becomes the 4th stripe.

• "No color" stripe should only work for four-striped resistor as it's disorientating for the five and six-striped resistor.

4 Stripes Example 2

1st stripe: green = 5

2nd stripe: blue = 6

3rd stripe: red = 10²

4th stripe: silver = ± 10%

so its resistance is

56 x 10² ± 10% Ω

or 5600 ± 10% Ω

or 5.6 ± 10% kΩ

or 5.6 ± 0.56 kΩ

or 5.04 ~ 6.16 kΩ


Note:

• Silver does not represent any number so they can only become later stripe, not the 1st or 2nd stripe, so it becomes the 4th stripe.

4 Stripes Example 3

1st stripe: red = 2

2nd stripe: violet = 7

3rd stripe: yellow = 10⁴

4th stripe: gold = ± 5%

so its resistance is

27 x 10⁴ ± 5% Ω

or 270000 ± 5% Ω

or 270 ± 5% kΩ

or 270 ± 13.5 kΩ

or 256.5 ~ 283.5 kΩ



Note:

• Gold does not represent any number so they can only become later stripe not the 1st or 2nd stripe, so it becomes the 4th stripe.

Five Striped Resistor

5 Stripes Formula

1st stripe: 1st digit

2nd stripe: 2nd digit

3rd stripe: 3rd digit

4th stripe: multiplier

5th stripe: tolerance

Example:

5 Stripes Example 1

1st stripe: white = 9

2nd stripe: yellow = 4

3rd stripe: orange = 3

4th stripe: brown = 10¹

5th stripe: violet = ± 0.1%

so its resistance is

943 x 10¹ ± 0.1% Ω

or 9430 ± 0.1% Ω

or 9.43 ± 0.1% kΩ

or 9.43 ± 0.943 kΩ

or 8.487 ~ 10.373 kΩ


Note:

• Why yellow as the 1st stripe? Because it doesn't represent any tolerance value at all, so it can't be the 5th stripe rather than violet.

5 Stripes Example 2

1st stripe: yellow = 4

2nd stripe: blue = 5

3rd stripe: grey = 8

4th stripe: brown = 10¹

5th stripe: brown = ± 1%

so its resistance is

458 x 10¹ ± 1% Ω

or 4580 ± 1% Ω

or 4.58 ± 1% kΩ

or 4.58 ± 0.458 kΩ

or 4.022 ~ 5.038 kΩ


Note:

• Why yellow as the 1st stripe? Because it doesn't represent any tolerance value at all, so it can't be the 5th stripe instead of brown.

5 Stripes Example 3

1st stripe: red = 2

2nd stripe: red = 2

3rd stripe: violet = 7

4th stripe: gold = 10^-1

5th stripe: green = ± 0.5%

so its resistance is

227 x 10^-1 ± 0.5% Ω

or 22.7 ± 0.5% Ω

or 22.7 ± 0.1135 Ω

or 22.5865 ~ 22.8135 Ω


Note:

• Because gold doesn't represent a number, it can't be the 2nd stripe, it can only become the later stripe, so it is the 4th stripe.

Six Striped Resistor

6 Stripes Formula

1st stripe: 1st digit

2nd stripe: 2nd digit

3rd stripe: 3rd digit

4th stripe: multiplier

5th stripe: tolerance

6th stripe: temperature coefficient

Example:

6 Stripes Example 1

1st stripe: blue = 6

2nd stripe: black = 0

3rd stripe: grey = 8

4th stripe: silver = 10^-2

5th stripe: red = ± 2%

6th stripe: yellow = 25 ppm/^oC

so its resistance is

608 x 10^-2 ± 2% with 25 ppm/^oC Ω 

or 6.08 ± 2% with 25 ppm/^oC Ω

or 6.08 ± 0.1216 with 25 ppm/^oC Ω

or 5.9584 ~ 6.2016 with 25 ppm/^oC Ω

or 5.9584 ~ 6.2016 Ω with no more than 25 x 10^-6 x (5.9584 ~ 6.2016) Ω change of value when there's 1^oC of temperature change happened from room temperature (25^oC)

or 5.9584 ~ 6.2016 ± ({0.00014896 ~ 0.00015504} / ^oC) Ω

Note:

• Why blue as the 1st stripe? Because it doesn't have temperature coefficient value at all, so it can't be the 6th stripe instead of yellow.

• Also, because silver doesn't represent a number, it can't be the 3rd stripe, it can only become the later stripe, so it is the 4th stripe.

6 Stripes Example 2

1st stripe: red = 2

2nd stripe: yellow = 4

3rd stripe: green = 5

4th stripe: orange = 10³

5th stripe: blue = ± 0.25%

6th stripe: red = 50 ppm/^oC

so its resistance is

245 x 10³ ± 0.25% with 50 ppm/^oC Ω

or 245000 ± 0.25% with 50 ppm/^oC Ω

or 245 ± 0.25% with 50 ppm/^oC kΩ

or 245 ± 0.6125 with 50 ppm/^oC kΩ

or 244.3875 ~ 245.6125 with 50 ppm/^oC kΩ

or 244.3875 ~ 245.6125 kΩ with no more than 50 x 10^-6 x (244.3875 ~ 245.6125) kΩ change of value when there's 1^oC of temperature change happened from room temperature (25^oC)

or 244.3875 ~ 245.6125 ± ({0.012219375 ~ 0.012280625} / ^oC) kΩ

Note:

• Why yellow as the 2nd stripe? Because it doesn't have any tolerance value at all, so it can't be the 5th stripe rather than blue.

6 Stripes Example 3

1st stripe: white = 9

2nd stripe: black = 0

3rd stripe: grey = 8

4th stripe: yellow = 10⁴

5th stripe: gold = ± 5%

6th stripe: orange = 15 ppm/^oC

so its resistance is

908 x 10⁴ ± 5% with 15 ppm/^oC Ω

or 9080000 ± 5% with 15 ppm/^oC Ω

or 9.08 ± 5% with 15 ppm/^oC MΩ

or 9.08 ± 0.454 with 15 ppm/^oC MΩ

or 8.626 ~ 9.534 with 15 ppm/^oC MΩ

or 8.626 ~ 9.534 MΩ with no more than 15 x 10^-6 x (8.626 ~ 9.534) MΩ change of value when there's 1 ^oC of temperature change happened from room temperature (25^oC)

or 8.626 ~ 9.534 ± ({0.00012939 ~ 0.00014301} / ^oC) MΩ


Note:

• Why white as the first stripe? Because it doesn't represent any temperature coefficient value at all, so it can't be the 6th stripe instead of orange.

• Also, because gold doesn't represent a number, it can't be the 2nd stripe, it can only become the later stripe, so it is the 5th stripe.

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In a formula, resistance is symbolized by capital "R", i.e. R = V / I or Resistance is equal to Voltage divided by Current.



The resistor can be used to control, divide, and delays the flow of electric current; control heat; frequency; etc.



Presently, there's also surface mounted technology (SMT) that is replacing the through-hole component. The SMT resistor has numerical values printed on them rather than color stripes. But this technology also said to has increased defect risk.