Here is a cool java applet written to help find valid values for 5% and 10% tolerance resistors. Quick clicks to common values and a clickable table of standard values in included. The tool even shows you the resistor code to make ordering parts easier.
I created this tool as my first web based Processing.org project. The small picture shown here is just a screen shot. The active applet loads from the full article page after the jump.
I have plans for several new online tools and some ideas for improvements to this one as well. The first new feature will probably be a part number lookup on Octopart for the selected resistor value.
This is an experiment to see if the electronics and microcontroller hobby community are interested in this kind of online tool. Comment with possible improvements and suggest some new online tools and links to any other online tools of interest.
Instructions:
- Requirements
Java is required and a link should appear if you do not already have Java installed. Use this link to get started. With Java installed, the resistor tool should load up automatically. - Selecting a value
Click on just about any colored box to change the value for the displayed resistor. Each color table can be used to select a value for the indicated color band. - Invalid color values
If you select and invalid set of colors the resistor value and code fields will show Invalid. Note that the valid values table shows all the possible values for the first two bands and changes based on the selected tolerance. - Common Values
Click on one of these common resistor values to quickly show the colors for that value. - Valid Values
Click on one of the valid values for the first two code digits. This table will help you find the closest valid value when your calculating a resistor for some project.
Comments Please:
This is an experiment to see if the electronics and microcontroller hobby community are interested in this kind of online tool. Comment with possible improvements and suggest some new online tools and links to any other online tools of interest.
I expect some will suggest more or different options for the common values. I needed something to fill that space on the applet and just guessed at these values. I know 10K is common, the others are up for grabs. What values do you suggest ?
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This is a great tool. I’m happy to see someone using processing for something so constructive.
good job! very useful!
This is just what I’ve been looking for!
FWIW I very rarely run Java applets. If you’d like to continue with Processing but potentially reach a wider audience maybe you could look at the Javascript Processing implementation: http://processingjs.org/
–Phil.
@follower How do you use Processingjs? I don’t see an IDE at the site, I must be missing something basic here. I want to play with it but there is not even a 101 style tutorial….
I suggest you add the range of values possible based on the tolerance. So a 1K 10% would say “1000 (900-1100)”
it would be nice if you expanded it to include 1% resistors, which have 5 stripes.
nice work!
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