Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
Electronics Repair (sci.electronics.repair) Discussion of repairing electronic equipment. Topics include requests for assistance, where to obtain servicing information and parts, techniques for diagnosis and repair, and annecdotes about success, failures and problems. |
Reply |
|
LinkBack | Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
Anyone else find it bizarre and inexplicable when resistor
manufacturers use coloured bodies for their resitors? The subsequent coded bands become *far* more difficult to read. |
#2
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
Generally, there is a reason for those colors. The Internet is your friend in figuring out why.
Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA |
#3
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On 2019/12/10 1:55 p.m., Cursitor Doom wrote:
Anyone else find it bizarre and inexplicable when resistor manufacturers use coloured bodies for their resitors? The subsequent coded bands become *far* more difficult to read. And some of us (7-10% male, 1% female) are red/green colour challenged, so green and brown can look the same at the best of times... I use an ohmmeter to verify as I can't trust my colour vision. John :-#)# |
#4
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On 12/10/19 3:55 PM, Cursitor Doom wrote:
Anyone else find it bizarre and inexplicable when resistor manufacturers use coloured bodies for their resitors? The subsequent coded bands become *far* more difficult to read. Don't get out much do you? Allen Bradly, and most other carbon composition resistor manufacturers used a brown composition body. When film resistors started to become popular, they had white bodies. The only other color I've seen is a dull red, Usually on 2% resistors. Of course, wire wound resistors had colors all over the map. But then they had the values printed on them. No color code. -- "I am a river to my people." Jeff-1.0 WA6FWi http:foxsmercantile.com |
#5
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On 11/12/2019 03:07, Fox's Mercantile wrote:
Allen Bradly, and most other carbon composition resistor manufacturers used a brown composition body. When film resistors started to become popular, they had white bodies. The only other color I've seen is a dull red, Usually on 2% resistors. Of course, wire wound resistors had colors all over the map. But then they had the values printed on them. No color code. Black color is the right choice for anything expected to dissipate energy. Integrated circuits is a good example. smc components another. |
#6
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On Wednesday, 11 December 2019 10:18:43 UTC, bilou wrote:
On 11/12/2019 03:07, Fox's Mercantile wrote: Allen Bradly, and most other carbon composition resistor manufacturers used a brown composition body. When film resistors started to become popular, they had white bodies. The only other color I've seen is a dull red, Usually on 2% resistors. Of course, wire wound resistors had colors all over the map. But then they had the values printed on them. No color code. Black color is the right choice for anything expected to dissipate energy. Integrated circuits is a good example. smc components another. By the time it's hot enough for that to matter it's already toast. The other colours are close to black in IR performance. NT |
#7
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On Tue, 10 Dec 2019 14:30:10 -0800, John Robertson
wrote: On 2019/12/10 1:55 p.m., Cursitor Doom wrote: Anyone else find it bizarre and inexplicable when resistor manufacturers use coloured bodies for their resitors? The subsequent coded bands become *far* more difficult to read. And some of us (7-10% male, 1% female) are red/green colour challenged, so green and brown can look the same at the best of times... I use an ohmmeter to verify as I can't trust my colour vision. My colour vision works OK but I still check resistance with a meter. Steve -- http://www.npsnn.com |
#8
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
Mpfff....
Resistor body colors are indicative of their composition, nature, tolerance, and generally follow convention. https://makezine.com/2013/04/01/comp...nth-resistors/ It is not random. Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA |
#9
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
|
#10
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On Wednesday, 11 December 2019 15:33:48 UTC, Ralph Mowery wrote:
In article , says... My colour vision works OK but I still check resistance with a meter. My vision is fine also,but like you I still check the older resistors. I have many new carbon resistors that are over 40 years old. Some are very close in value and some are out of the 10% range they are suppose to be. Some are 1 and 2 watt Allen Bradely and they are in packs of about 25. Out of that pack I may find one or two that are outside the 10% range. Some not much , some are around 30% off. Hard to believe that some could change so much while never used and only a few inches away in the same package. Think about the construction, I'm not surprised the high R ones tend to drift high NT |
#12
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
|
#13
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On 11/12/2019 9:30 am, John Robertson wrote:
On 2019/12/10 1:55 p.m., Cursitor Doom wrote: Anyone else find it bizarre and inexplicable when resistor manufacturers use coloured bodies for their resitors? The subsequent coded bands become *far* more difficult to read. And some of us (7-10% male, 1% female) are red/green colour challenged, so green and brown can look the same at the best of times... I use an ohmmeter to verify as I can't trust my colour vision. John :-#)# **The very first test I had to pass, before entering the electronics biz, was a colour blind test. -- Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au |
#14
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
|
#15
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On 12/12/2019 10:10 am, Ralph Mowery wrote:
In article , says... **The very first test I had to pass, before entering the electronics biz, was a colour blind test. As most electronics have now gone to the SMD the color code is not worth too much. Most of the SMD resistors I have seen are marked as to resistance. However the SMD capacitors have no markings at all. Sort of backwards to me. Almost everyone will have a meter that can measure resistance, but maybe not the capacitors at hand. **True enough now. I started in 1971. Digital meters were the realm of seriously cashed laboratories only. Even then, NIXIE tubes ruled. -- Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au |
#16
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 8:21:29 PM UTC-5, Trevor Wilson wrote:
On 12/12/2019 10:10 am, Ralph Mowery wrote: In article , says... **The very first test I had to pass, before entering the electronics biz, was a colour blind test. As most electronics have now gone to the SMD the color code is not worth too much. Most of the SMD resistors I have seen are marked as to resistance. However the SMD capacitors have no markings at all. Sort of backwards to me. Almost everyone will have a meter that can measure resistance, but maybe not the capacitors at hand. **True enough now. I started in 1971. Digital meters were the realm of seriously cashed laboratories only. Even then, NIXIE tubes ruled. The first one that I saw was Non Linear Systems, in the late '60s. It had just been purchased by the local steel mill for their research center. One of their engineers brought it to our high school Electronics class to show it to us. It used an electro mechanical display that was slow to update. I wasn't impressed. https://stevenjohnson.com/nls/index.htm is an example. |
#17
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On 2019/12/11 6:50 p.m., Michael Terrell wrote:
On Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 8:21:29 PM UTC-5, Trevor Wilson wrote: On 12/12/2019 10:10 am, Ralph Mowery wrote: In article , says... **The very first test I had to pass, before entering the electronics biz, was a colour blind test. As most electronics have now gone to the SMD the color code is not worth too much. Most of the SMD resistors I have seen are marked as to resistance. However the SMD capacitors have no markings at all. Sort of backwards to me. Almost everyone will have a meter that can measure resistance, but maybe not the capacitors at hand. **True enough now. I started in 1971. Digital meters were the realm of seriously cashed laboratories only. Even then, NIXIE tubes ruled. The first one that I saw was Non Linear Systems, in the late '60s. It had just been purchased by the local steel mill for their research center. One of their engineers brought it to our high school Electronics class to show it to us. It used an electro mechanical display that was slow to update. I wasn't impressed. https://stevenjohnson.com/nls/index.htm is an example. Sounds like telephone steppers running the display tubes - one stepper per tube... The same sort of display and stepper was used in some 1960s arcade games - Nutting's COMPUTER QUIZ was one of them. Here is a video I did of that machine from a year or two ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr98ASLdbZQ I didn't go into the scoring with the Nixie tubes and the telephone steppers in that video, should do that if I make another... John :-#)# -- (Please post followups or tech inquiries to the USENET newsgroup) John's Jukes Ltd. MOVED to #7 - 3979 Marine Way, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5J 5E3 (604)872-5757 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games) www.flippers.com "Old pinballers never die, they just flip out." |
#18
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On 12/12/2019 1:50 pm, Michael Terrell wrote:
On Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 8:21:29 PM UTC-5, Trevor Wilson wrote: On 12/12/2019 10:10 am, Ralph Mowery wrote: In article , says... **The very first test I had to pass, before entering the electronics biz, was a colour blind test. As most electronics have now gone to the SMD the color code is not worth too much. Most of the SMD resistors I have seen are marked as to resistance. However the SMD capacitors have no markings at all. Sort of backwards to me. Almost everyone will have a meter that can measure resistance, but maybe not the capacitors at hand. **True enough now. I started in 1971. Digital meters were the realm of seriously cashed laboratories only. Even then, NIXIE tubes ruled. The first one that I saw was Non Linear Systems, in the late '60s. It had just been purchased by the local steel mill for their research center. One of their engineers brought it to our high school Electronics class to show it to us. It used an electro mechanical display that was slow to update. I wasn't impressed. https://stevenjohnson.com/nls/index.htm is an example. **Cool. I learned my craft as a trainee with an Aussie quasi-government agency called The Overseas Telecomunications Commission. They were responsible for all communications in and out of Australia. That included satellite, cable and, HF radio They had so many cool toys, including: * An entire floor dedicated to a large mainframe. Which included a 2 Metre long computer drum drive. * The very first ink jet printer I had ever seen (1972-ish). As I recall, the ink was accelerated to the paper via a 2.5kV potential difference. The printer was VERY slow and the print quality was appalling. Cost over 2.5 Grand, if I recall. * Huge page printers, churning out print at quite respectable speeds. * A thing called T.A.S.I. Time Allocation, Speech Interpolation. Multiple racks of tubed equipment, which examined the incoming and outgoing voice comms and shuffled bits of voice into quiet parts of different conversations. Bandwidth of the cable was doubled. Astonishing technology. * A HUGE 2.5kV power supply for the tube cable repeaters between Sydney and New Zealand. VERY reliable tubes were chosen (obviously, as repair was expensive). * A massive (600mm X 600mm X 600mm frequency counter, using tubes and NIXIE tubes as readouts. Something like 10 digits. * A huge battery room, full of Pyrex„¢ glass lead/acid batteries. The room also had four, 2 Metre high CO2 cylinders and a 2 Tonne fire door. We were told that, if there was a fire, run like Hell and, if the door closed, climb onto the Diesel generator (about 2 Metres high) and hope the CO2 doesn't suffocate us. Prolly and urban myth to scare trainees. -- Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au |
#19
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
No fight perceived. Just attempting to point out to the OP and other speculators that these colors are not by accident, and in some cases convey critical information, such as fusible and/or flameproof resistors, not to be replaced with standard types.
In any case, enjoy your holidays! Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA |
#20
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On Thursday, December 12, 2019 at 3:09:55 AM UTC-5, Trevor Wilson wrote:
On 12/12/2019 1:50 pm, Michael Terrell wrote: The first one that I saw was Non Linear Systems, in the late '60s. It had just been purchased by the local steel mill for their research center. One of their engineers brought it to our high school Electronics class to show it to us. It used an electro mechanical display that was slow to update. I wasn't impressed. https://stevenjohnson.com/nls/index.htm is an example. **Cool. I learned my craft as a trainee with an Aussie quasi-government agency called The Overseas Telecomunications Commission. They were responsible for all communications in and out of Australia. That included satellite, cable and, HF radio They had so many cool toys, including: * An entire floor dedicated to a large mainframe. Which included a 2 Metre long computer drum drive. * The very first ink jet printer I had ever seen (1972-ish). As I recall, the ink was accelerated to the paper via a 2.5kV potential difference. The printer was VERY slow and the print quality was appalling. Cost over 2.5 Grand, if I recall. * Huge page printers, churning out print at quite respectable speeds. * A thing called T.A.S.I. Time Allocation, Speech Interpolation. Multiple racks of tubed equipment, which examined the incoming and outgoing voice comms and shuffled bits of voice into quiet parts of different conversations. Bandwidth of the cable was doubled. Astonishing technology. * A HUGE 2.5kV power supply for the tube cable repeaters between Sydney and New Zealand. VERY reliable tubes were chosen (obviously, as repair was expensive). * A massive (600mm X 600mm X 600mm frequency counter, using tubes and NIXIE tubes as readouts. Something like 10 digits. * A huge battery room, full of Pyrex„¢ glass lead/acid batteries. The room also had four, 2 Metre high CO2 cylinders and a 2 Tonne fire door. We were told that, if there was a fire, run like Hell and, if the door closed, climb onto the Diesel generator (about 2 Metres high) and hope the CO2 doesn't suffocate us. Prolly and urban myth to scare trainees. I used the 'White Alice Network', back in the early '70s. It was built during WW-II as the first, Over the Horizon, Microwave telephone system to connect the various military bases in Alaska. It used huge dishes, and the refraction of mountain peaks to get their signals over the various mountains.. The audio was remarkably clear, for telephone service, considering it was almost 30 years old. Our telephone, teletype and radio network feeds were delivered by this system. A lot of people died, building it but it made more sense than trying to build thousands of miles of lead covered aerial cable, or even worse, burying it in a region that varied from below -40F, to +80F during the year. The last traces of the old sites are mostly gone now, but there are websites dedicated to its history. It took dedicated and rugged engineers and technicians to build and maintain a huge system, like this. I used it from what had been 'Delta Field' in WW-II. It was one of the major transfer sites for the Lend-Lease program, where Russian pilots picked American built aircraft and weapons to fight Germany from the Russian Front. The building I worked at had been the pilot's mess hall, barracks and the original boiler plant for the airfield. Considering the age and severe weather conditions, I don't recall a time that it ever gave us problems, other that high audio loss on dedicated audio feeds. It was never designed to handle a Network radio feed, and it was around -20dB depending on the time of year. That wasn't unexpected, on 30 year old Arial lead cable. I had a spare mag phone preamp on hand, so I added it to the feed, to bring it up to the required level. The station was AM, and played mostly Rock, so no one complained about the bad equalization. Prior to that modification, it was a sight to watch the DJ switch from Network to local feed. The levels had to be reset at three points, in just a couple seconds, and they were all on different racks. They loved just flipping a switch, instead. |
#21
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On Thursday, December 12, 2019 at 6:44:33 AM UTC-5, wrote:
No fight perceived. Just attempting to point out to the OP and other speculators that these colors are not by accident, and in some cases convey critical information, such as fusible and/or flameproof resistors, not to be replaced with standard types. Peter, Ii can remember when those Flameproof resistors first went into use. Some consumer equipment had notices to use them for repairs, instead of the Carbon Comp. Others had warnings to only replace them with Flameproof, but as usual most of the hacks ignored the OEMs, because the resistors cost more, and weren't as well stocked by the wholesalers. These were the same losers who refused to properly hand MOSFETs and static sensitive ICs. I got tired of hearing, 'If they can't make good parts, let them go out of business.' If it were up to them TVs would still be all tube. |
#22
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On Thu, 12 Dec 2019 04:59:11 -0800 (PST), Michael Terrell
wrote: 'If they can't make good parts, let them go out of business.' That's what my first company was often told. The "power" resistors were white with the value printed on them in black. After some exchange of messages I discovered that of our main customer wanted green rather than white. We started encapsulating the resistors in a ceramic that was green. Then we got complaints that black writing on green was difficult to read. So far as I know the company is now using imported components! Steve -- http://www.npsnn.com |
#23
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On Thursday, December 12, 2019 at 9:14:21 AM UTC-5, Stephen Wolstenholme wrote:
On Thu, 12 Dec 2019 04:59:11 -0800 (PST), Michael Terrell wrote: 'If they can't make good parts, let them go out of business.' That's what my first company was often told. The "power" resistors were white with the value printed on them in black. After some exchange of messages I discovered that of our main customer wanted green rather than white. We started encapsulating the resistors in a ceramic that was green. Then we got complaints that black writing on green was difficult to read. So far as I know the company is now using imported components! Some want odd combinations as a cheap trademark, or to make it impossible to repair something without leaving any evidence. They could have dyed the bare white ceramic any color they wanted, or do like Western Electric did, and manufacture their own. Many US suppliers are gone, because their customers didn't want to pay for quality. Sprague was one of them. OEMs could get parts that barely lasted through the warranty for half what a long life US made capacitor cost when they closed their plant near Orlando. Now, it is a division of Vishay along with other well known American brand names. BTW, I hate light green signs with white printed text. Over time, the green fades, and the white discolors or is covered by mold that grows on the paint. |
#24
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On Wednesday, 11 December 2019 20:45:20 UTC, Ralph Mowery wrote:
In article , tabbypurr says... Think about the construction, I'm not surprised the high R ones tend to drift high I have found some in the 470 ohm and a few in the 100 and under ohm range have changed values more than the 10% they are rated for. Those were new ones in the 25 pack. They were checked with a Fluke 87 that had been sent out about 6 months before to a lab that verified it to the NIST to be in caliberation. Yes, comp are known for drifting & sometimes going noisy. The high R values are much worse for drifting upward, since the internal contact points between grains are both smaller & fewer. NT |
#25
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 1:58:19 PM UTC-8, Trevor Wilson wrote:
On 11/12/2019 9:30 am, John Robertson wrote: On 2019/12/10 1:55 p.m., Cursitor Doom wrote: Anyone else find it bizarre and inexplicable when resistor manufacturers use coloured bodies for their resitors? The subsequent coded bands become *far* more difficult to read. And some of us (7-10% male, 1% female) are red/green colour challenged, **The very first test I had to pass, before entering the electronics biz, was a colour blind test. There's hope for the ten percent, though: cellphones can scan the codes for ya. https://play.google.com/store/search?q=resistor%20color%20code%20scanner&c=apps |
#26
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On Friday, 13 December 2019 08:00:57 UTC, whit3rd wrote:
On Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 1:58:19 PM UTC-8, Trevor Wilson wrote: On 11/12/2019 9:30 am, John Robertson wrote: On 2019/12/10 1:55 p.m., Cursitor Doom wrote: Anyone else find it bizarre and inexplicable when resistor manufacturers use coloured bodies for their resitors? The subsequent coded bands become *far* more difficult to read. And some of us (7-10% male, 1% female) are red/green colour challenged, **The very first test I had to pass, before entering the electronics biz, was a colour blind test. There's hope for the ten percent, though: cellphones can scan the codes for ya. https://play.google.com/store/search?q=resistor%20color%20code%20scanner&c=apps .... at the price of malware. |
#27
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On Tue, 10 Dec 2019 20:07:28 -0600, Fox's Mercantile
wrote: On 12/10/19 3:55 PM, Cursitor Doom wrote: Anyone else find it bizarre and inexplicable when resistor manufacturers use coloured bodies for their resitors? The subsequent coded bands become *far* more difficult to read. Don't get out much do you? Allen Bradly, and most other carbon composition resistor manufacturers used a brown composition body. When film resistors started to become popular, they had white bodies. The only other color I've seen is a dull red, Usually on 2% resistors. I have two assortments of several thousand through-holes I bought recently from Farnell (never again-terrible service) and Conrad. Farnell's were bright blue; Conrad's dark green(!) Both extremely difficult to read (and I don't have any form of colour-blindness). IME, white-bodied resistors constitute a very small minority. -- "When constituencies are small their elected representatives must concern themselves with the local interests of their constituents. When political representatives are distant and faceless, on the other hand, and represent vast numbers of unknown constituents, they represent not their constituents, but special interest groups whose lobbyists are numerous and ever present. Typically in Europe a technocrat is an ex-politician or a civil servant. He is unelected, virtually impossible to dislodge during his term of employment and has been granted extensive executive and even legislative power without popular mandate and without being directly answerable to the people whose interests he falsely purports to represent." - Sir James Goldsmith (Member of the European Parliament) 1933 - 1997 |
#28
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 5:18:43 AM UTC-5, bilou wrote:
On 11/12/2019 03:07, Fox's Mercantile wrote: Allen Bradly, and most other carbon composition resistor manufacturers used a brown composition body. When film resistors started to become popular, they had white bodies. The only other color I've seen is a dull red, Usually on 2% resistors. Of course, wire wound resistors had colors all over the map. But then they had the values printed on them. No color code. Black color is the right choice for anything expected to dissipate energy. Anything? Even 'A'phase? |
#29
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
|
|||
|
|||
Resistor colours
On Fri, 13 Dec 2019 00:00:54 -0800 (PST), whit3rd
wrote: On Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 1:58:19 PM UTC-8, Trevor Wilson wrote: On 11/12/2019 9:30 am, John Robertson wrote: On 2019/12/10 1:55 p.m., Cursitor Doom wrote: Anyone else find it bizarre and inexplicable when resistor manufacturers use coloured bodies for their resitors? The subsequent coded bands become *far* more difficult to read. And some of us (7-10% male, 1% female) are red/green colour challenged, I am but I still got into Telstra. |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Does anyone know the spec on this resistor? - resistor.jpg (0/1) | Electronics | |||
Harmonised wiring colours | UK diy | |||
PIR cable colours | UK diy | |||
Cable colours for 110v fixed wiring | UK diy | |||
Sony KV-27V55 Black Colours look slightly Green | Electronics Repair |