Resistor Value Question

[joelorigo]

In the Beatle Juice, R15 calls for 120R. The one 120R I have is measuring 10k but I do have a 130R. Is that close enough? If I am reading the schematic correctly its in the power section of the circuit(?).

 

[KR Sound]

 

[benny_profane]

The one 120R I have is measuring 10k

What’s going on here? Sorting error?

And yep, that substitution is fine.

 

[joelorigo]

What’s going on here? Sorting error?

And yep, that substitution is fine.

I guess so, I just realized that 120R & 10k have the same colors. D'oh!

 

[KR Sound]

Reds, browns, and blacks are always difficult to distinguish from each other when printed poorly.

 

[Feral Feline]

Even so, poor printing is not the problem here. As Joe discovered...

Grab a resistor with the colour order as follows:

Brown Red Black Black Brown
or
Brown Black Black Red Brown

Due to their diminutive size, danged resistors above can have the correct colour stripes but the stripes are often placed evenly across the body of the resistor, not skewed to one side as shown on resistor charts and online calcs...

So reading from left to right, then flip the resistor and read it again:
120Ω vs 10k
130Ω vs 100k
1k2 vs 11k
1k5 vs 11M
etc

Only way to tell them apart is take a meter to them.

 

[hamerfan]

I meter every resistor I use. This comes from the times I used 5% ceramic films from a bulk purchase.

 

[Feral Feline]

I used to trust that when I received a bag of 100 10k resistors, that's what I got.
Now I measure everything —

Maybe the bag got mislabelled because a new guy on the job packaged an entire batch of 11k as 1k2.​

You never know if just one of the resistors in a given lot was faulty.​

Went on a trip in friend's car after overhauling the engine — engine trouble ensued. Turned out to be a faulty brand-spanking new spark-plug.
About every one-in-a-million plug is a dud right from the factory.



As KR noted, sometimes the colours are off. "Is that band blue or purple?", I've asked myself, and "Is this yellow or orange?"...