# IEC Resitor colour code/University Challenge



## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Did anyone watch University Challenge this evening?

One of the questions was the designation of the third band. The 'correct' answer that it was tolerance NOT the multiplier (although the designation was mentioned).

I am not going to risk the ridicule of the industry or, more importantly the coven that is SN by suggesting this is incorrect - anyone have the published standard? Perhaps that has band A as zero rather than one?.

(I add that the programme included answers on only two tolerance band colours silver and gold and therefore preclude the 'value' bands of the code on tighter tolerance jobs. I have now risked my reputation and webmailed Auntie)


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## Engine Serang (Oct 15, 2012)

Are the chaps at Balliol and Magdalen now tradesmen? Might as well ask them to pull a unit or skim a commutator. The ladies could be asked how to make a nutritious meal from the cold cuts and beetroot salad in the pantry fridge.


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## King Ratt (Aug 23, 2005)

Yes Varley, Mrs T and myself watched. I introduced her to our old way of remembering the colour code. I don't think it earned me supper tonight!

Cheers

KR


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## Engine Serang (Oct 15, 2012)

Watching University Challenge leads me to believe that my education at Hull Tech was lacking in the more cultural aspects of life. 
I have difficulty with questions on chamber music, cytogenetics and the eleatic school of philosophy. My type of question on crossing the line ceremonies, the old first division and tamala motown rarely come up.
Perhaps Warsash should put a team forward, they are not overawed by place settings with 3 wine glasses.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Ah, yes. Not politically, correct but sure fire!


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Engine Serang said:


> Are the chaps at Balliol and Magdalen now tradesmen? Might as well ask them to pull a unit or skim a commutator. The ladies could be asked how to make a nutritious meal from the cold cuts and beetroot salad in the pantry fridge.


Lord Finchley tried to mend the electric light,
Himself. It struck him dead, and serve him right!
It is the duty of the wealthy man
To give employment to the artisan.

(Belloc, H)


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## Bill Greig (Jul 4, 2006)

You are correct Varley, the third band is the multiplier, the tolerance band is normally at the end of the resistor body and separate from the other three bands, certainly on the axial resistors.
Bill


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## Duncan112 (Dec 28, 2006)

I saw it too, and wondered if I had remembered my electrotech wrongly 

"Bad boys rape our young girls but virgins go without" is the memnonic I was taught


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## Larry Bennett (Aug 28, 2005)

Duncan112 said:


> I saw it too, and wondered if I had remembered my electrotech wrongly
> 
> "Bad boys rape our young girls but virgins go without" is the memnonic I was taught


The mnemonic we were taught at Brunel Tech in the 1970s was somewhat similar....but I cannot repeat it in these days of political correctness. But it worked!


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## Duncan112 (Dec 28, 2006)

Larry Bennett said:


> The mnemonic we were taught at Brunel Tech in the 1970s was somewhat similar....but I cannot repeat it in these days of political correctness. But it worked!


Yes there was another - the B B was different, as you say it would earn me a ban!!


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## Bill Greig (Jul 4, 2006)

Sadly, most of the young guys coming into the industry now are unaware the colour code even existed.


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

I did not see the programme but would certainly agree that on a standard axial resistor the answer is incorrect regardless of whether it is a 3, 4, 5 or 6 band.

However, IF the question mentioned SMD resistors and the alpha numeric codes used for them - confusingly there are two in use - then the third digit, not band, may refer to tolerance. 


Bye bye Rosie off you go Birmingham via Great western.


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Bambi: ...well, that's not exactly what I have written on the card, but I knew your father, so footlights lead by 25....

Miss Money Sterling: daddy sends hugs....


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Duncan112 said:


> I saw it too, and wondered if I had remembered my electrotech wrongly
> 
> "Bad boys rape our young girls but virgins go without" is the memnonic I was taught


I am afraid those boys must have a totally dusky ethnical assignment otherwise one may misorder black and brown.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Mad Landsman said:


> I did not see the programme but would certainly agree that on a standard axial resistor the answer is incorrect regardless of whether it is a 3, 4, 5 or 6 band.
> 
> However, IF the question mentioned SMD resistors and the alpha numeric codes used for them - confusingly there are two in use - then the third digit, not band, may refer to tolerance.
> 
> ...


Malcolm, I think you would have to alter the standard to include taup before blue for it to scan proper.


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## Basil (Feb 4, 2006)

From my 1958 notes (even engineers do this stuff - if they're motivated enough  :

Earlier system:
1st No: Body
2nd No: Tip
Zeros: Spot
Tolerance: Other tip - So perhaps that's what they meant.

Later system:
1st No: 1st band
2nd No: 2nd band
Zeros: 3rd band
Tolerance: 4th band

Is there another system?

ps: Like the mneu neu oh soddit! - words for the colours - didn't know that one.


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## Basil (Feb 4, 2006)

R651400 said:


> I've watched Uni Challenge religiously whenever possible since it's Bamber Gascoigne inception and whether or not a contestant today can answer resistor colour code/multiples/tolerence it reinstates my coffin-dodging confidence that there are brains out there that can keep us/me away from armageddon..


Unfortunately they won't be holding the reins of political power; they'll be working in academic research, industry, banking etc.


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

They must be dumbing down the questions on University Challenge if they're asking about resistor colour codes. Tarquin from Martin Luther King University, Lagos, would probably object to the original mnemonic. What happened to in depth questions on the Rorschach test on boat race underpants?

Is Bamber still doing the quiz? Who decides whether R Souls, Oxford, or Lucy Locket, Cambridge gets the top bunk?

I always thought I was pretty good if I got two questions right but maybe I'd be better now, especially if they chuck in a couple on homos law.

John T


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## gwzm (Nov 7, 2005)

All you need to know here:

http://www.resistorguide.com/resistor-color-code/

The third band was always the multiplier.


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

Varley said:


> Malcolm, I think you would have to alter the standard to include taup before blue for it to scan proper.


Bye Bye Rosie Off You Go! Birmingham Via Great Western. 

There, that fixed it! (*)) 

Found this one with a quick online search - Seems to cover most things, apart from (probably obsolete) 3 band.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Wouldn't be a half bad idea to have spelt the word resistor right in the first place. Pedantic ? ... yes ... but I've learned from the best on this site. (LOL)


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## Farmer John (Feb 22, 2012)

There is one mnemonic I will never forget.

Lazy Zulus Piss Down Drains.

I have forgotten what it refers to.


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## Engine Serang (Oct 15, 2012)

Or, "Rub My Balls With Grease"


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

On subject of Aides Mémoire - Anybody else find that numbers tend to be easier to memorise if the include 'preferred values' or composites thereof?


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## Farmer John (Feb 22, 2012)

Mad Landsman said:


> On subject of Aides Mémoire - Anybody else find that numbers tend to be easier to memorise if the include 'preferred values' or composites thereof?


I did know this, but I think I may have forgotten.


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## forthbridge (Jun 28, 2007)

Duncan112 said:


> I saw it too, and wondered if I had remembered my electrotech wrongly
> 
> "Bad boys rape our young girls but virgins go without" is the memnonic I was taught


That is the one that I was taught in the radio department at Rosyrh Dockyard in the mid 1950.


As far as standards go the most people here were probably taught was BS 1852 this later evolved in to BSEN600062 when it became a Euronorm with some changes. Normally in modern installations it would be IEC600062 which should be identical to the BSEN standard.. Your local library could probably get you a copy of this


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

BobClay said:


> Wouldn't be a half bad idea to have spelt the word resistor right in the first place. Pedantic ? ... yes ... but I've learned from the best on this site. (LOL)


Quite right, Bob, a "resister" was just one of the virgins who went without.

John T

PS Just realised I got the wrong spelling mistake. Whoops. Dunno what a "resitor" is.


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

trotterdotpom said:


> ........ Dunno what a "resitor" is.


It's obviously something which sitors again.(==D)


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

BobClay said:


> Wouldn't be a half bad idea to have spelt the word resistor right in the first place. Pedantic ? ... yes ... but I've learned from the best on this site. (LOL)


I am so sorry old man. I missed the compliment - very kind of you.

It rather brings to mind a complaint I make about others skating over headings in messages. I put it down to the presentation of emails on smart phones (which I won't use) and here's me doing it with my own.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

To resitor. The act of replacing a failed TOR terminal with another.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

I always blame auto - correct for my spelling mistletoe. (LOL)


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

You're learning m'boy. Software can, indeed, be fallibubble.


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## ART6 (Sep 14, 2010)

How do colour blind electronics technicians select resistors?


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Not the software I write .... it's very close to prefect. (==D)


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

ART6 said:


> How do colour blind electronics technicians select resistors?


Very bloody carefully. (LOL)


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## Engine Serang (Oct 15, 2012)

Or even "Rub Your Balls With Grease".


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

#40 - Red Yellow Blue - phases? But neutral was black.... ? (US use Grey and White) 

Today it is Brown Black Gray with Blue neutral - Make a mnemonic out of that!


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## John Jarman (Sep 17, 2009)

Mad Landsman said:


> #40 - Red Yellow Blue - phases? But neutral was black.... ? (US use Grey and White)
> 
> Today it is Brown Black Gray with Blue neutral - Make a mnemonic out of that!


Theresa Holds A Trump.

JJ.


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## GBXZ (Nov 4, 2008)

BBROYGBVGW GSN
I seem to remember that GSN - Gold, Silver, no colour, was the tolerance ?


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## Engine Serang (Oct 15, 2012)

If it wasn't for GMDSS ships would still be full of Marconi Men unable to tell the value of a simple resistor.
Suck that up, old man.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

And now they're to be full of graduates that can't!


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## Engine Serang (Oct 15, 2012)

Some say that Marconi Men were a sort of Wikipedia on legs. Or more probably on legless.


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

Warning: boring story, but there is relevance at the end......

My son, having done CXC (Caribbean 'O'-level) General Science at 14, didn't want to do Biology for the next year as the local school had scheduled. So he persuaded me to persuade the principal that he should be allowed to do Welsh Board 'O'-level electronics. The syllabus was quite detailed including resistor and capacitor colour codes, laying out and fabricating printed circuit boards and went into some depth with Ohm's Law, but no A/C theory. The pupil had to design and construct a device with a minimum of a certain number of components with photographs of him (or her) doing it. There was a multiple choice written exam at the end, which included two questions on resistor and capacitor values.

Punch line:

At the top of the examination paper was a list of the colour codes!


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Why not ? What would be the point of memorising it ? What is important is that you know how to use the scheme, and so derive the correct answer.

It's a bit like forcing students to memorise equations rather than solving them or understanding how they work. A bloody parrot can be taught to repeat things.

I did a bit of adult numeracy teaching some years back and found a lot of adults had been put off mathematics during their school days due to long reams of formula's they were required to memorise. Far better to give them the formulas in a table and explain how and why they work, that proved to me to be far less off-putting for the student, and considerably more satisfying to the student when they realise why said formula works.


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## Engine Serang (Oct 15, 2012)

There you are down the engine room, bilge pump won't start or cpp wont change pitch or boiler won't flash and Lecky says hold on guys I know the water is up to your goolies but I'll just nip up to the cabin and get my colour chart to help me get this mother running. 
Cheers all round for the ETO.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

ES, I did 2 years as an engine room rating and I know bullsh1t when I hear it.


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## Basil (Feb 4, 2006)

BobClay said:


> Why not ? What would be the point of memorising it ? What is important is that you know how to use the scheme, and so derive the correct answer.
> 
> It's a bit like forcing students to memorise equations rather than solving them or understanding how they work. A bloody parrot can be taught to repeat things.
> 
> I did a bit of adult numeracy teaching some years back and found a lot of adults had been put off mathematics during their school days due to long reams of formula's they were required to memorise. Far better to give them the formulas in a table and explain how and why they work, that proved to me to be far less off-putting for the student, and considerably more satisfying to the student when they realise why said formula works.


Agreed, better to look at your notes or references to check unless the formula is burnt into the brain.

p.s. re your mention of being an ERR; on the couple of occasions I've entered a naval vessel ER, I've been struck by how tightly packed in everything is and how little room for the crew cf a merchant vessel - respect.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Not naval vessels. Merchant vessels. Mostly Shell Tankers with a couple of trips on the Empress of Canada.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

A consideration must be that one cannot derive the colour code from any more simple formula (or so I suppose). It must be remembered or taken from reference. You'd get a name for yourself if you ran up top to look up frequently needed arithmetical tools.

It can be depressing 'though when you have to root out one of your distant colleagues who has been recklessly using 3xVICosFi to a motor tripping conundrum (well a conundrum locally anyway). 

Mind you, Brook Crompton's little red book as well as Newnes Electrical Pocket Book were not too far from me. The earlier red book editions were edited by a human, one line I remember: "The electric motor in modern industry is the goose that lays the golden egg. It is only human nature to make the goose lay faster. It should be clearly understood that this WILL kill the goose". Later editions were much drier. A quick look through a Newnes and I cannot see the code given. Unfortunately I no longer havea little red book.


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## Engine Serang (Oct 15, 2012)

I always solved the problem of IEC resistor colour codes by fitting bigger fuses. I agree with Clarkson, more power is good.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Not many geese in either of your gardens, I'll be bound.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Ahhh that little Newnes book, the numbers of those I had to buy because I'd left mine on the last ship. We forget those things these days because everything and its dog is 'online.' :sweat:


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## King Ratt (Aug 23, 2005)

Engine Serang said:


> I always solved the problem of IEC resistor colour codes by fitting bigger fuses. I agree with Clarkson, more power is good.


Tune for maximum smoke.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Well, they got there in the end.

Quote:

Dear Mr Varley 

Thank you for contacting us about University Challenge that was broadcast on the 6th February. 

This programme is made for the BBC by an independent production house, ITV Studios and we contacted them for their comments.

The producers would like to thank you for raising the error in their question regarding the colour coding of fixed resistors. The correct answer was the 'multiplier', not 'tolerance' as they stated. They take every care to ensure that all the information given out in the programme is as accurate as possible, and can only apologise for the mistake. Fortunately the error did not affect the outcome of the match, but they hope it didn't spoil your overall enjoyment of the programme.

Thanks again for contacting us. 

Kind Regards

BBC Complaints Team
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

NB This is sent from an outgoing account only which is not monitored. You cannot reply to this email address but if necessary please contact us via our webform quoting any case number we provided.

Unquote.

(Why they thought it would spoil my enjoyment to be found right yet again I know not).


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

Am I missing something: the BBC buys programmes from ITV???


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