Resistor colour codes and component markings

Colour bands — choose 3, 4, 5, or 6 bands, click a band on the drawing (or its button) and pick a colour; the value, tolerance range, and temperature coefficient update as you go. Or type a value and press Set to get its bands. Three-band resistors are ±20%; 4-band have two digits, a multiplier, and tolerance; 5-band have three digits; the sixth band is the temperature coefficient (ppm/K).

Standard values — the nearest value in E3…E192, the next lower and higher, and the best single resistor or series (R1 + R2) or parallel (R1·R2 / (R1 + R2)) pair from that series, ranked by error. E48/E96/E192 values are 10^(n/N) rounded to three figures, with the standard exception 9.20 in E192.

SMD codes — 3-digit (two digits and a power of ten: 472 = 4.7 kΩ), 4-digit (4702 = 47 kΩ), R notation (4R7 = 4.7 Ω), milliohm M notation (5M0 = 5 mΩ), and EIA-96 (two-digit index into the E96 table and a multiplier letter: 01C = 10 kΩ).

Capacitor codes — 104 is 10 × 10^4 pF = 100 nF; a trailing letter is the tolerance (104K = ±10%); 4n7 and 2p2 put the decimal point at the prefix. Bare decimals such as 0.1 are microfarads, as printed on larger capacitors. Tolerance and EIA voltage codes are tabulated.

Inductor colours — two digits, a multiplier, and tolerance, giving the value in microhenries.