1k ohm carbon resistor is the most popular resistor in Physics and Engineering laboratories. It has wide uses in different practical circuits. Carbon resistors are identified by the colors of bands painted on their surface. To avoid any error in an electric or electronic circuit, you must calculate the resistance value of such carbon resistors either by reading the color codes or by a multimeter. In this tutorial page, I am going to explain you how to read the color code of 1k ohm resistor containing 3, 4, 5 or 6 bands on their body. Before this, i recommand you to go through the color code chart for carbon resistors which will help you in better understanding.
3 bands 1k Ohm resistor color code
1k ohm = 1000 ohm.
For a three-band 1k ohm resistor, the colors of first two bands are brown and black respectively which give the digit codes 1 and 0 respectively and the third band contains red color which gives digit code ‘2’ suggesting that the multiplier is 100. Since there is no fourth band, the tolerance is 20% which is coded as M. Hence,the color coding of 1k ohm resistor with 3 bands is 102M with the colors of bands as Brown, Black and Red.
| Band number | Color | Code |
| 1st band | Brown | 1 |
| 2nd band | Black | 0 |
| 3rd band | Red | 2 |
| No tolerance band | – | M |
1k Ohm resistor color code with 4 bands
For a Four-band 1k ohm resistor, the color codes of the first three bands will remain the same as those of a three-band 1000 ohm resistor. But there will be a fourth band which is the tolerance band. If the tolerance is 10% then the color of the fourth band will be Silver which has the code “K“. Therefore,
The color code of a 1k resistor with 4 bands will be 102K with colors of the bands Brown, Black, Red and Silver.
| Band number | Color | Code |
| 1st band | Brown | 1 |
| 2nd band | Black | 0 |
| 3rd band | Red | 2 |
| 4th Band | Silver (if tolerance is 10%) | K |
Please note that the tolerance can be different for other 1k resistors. If tolerance is 5%, then the fourth color will be Golden which has the code “J” instead of “K“. However, the colors of the first three bands will be the same for all 1 kilo-ohm resistors with 3 bands and 4 bands.
5 bands 1k Ohm resistor color code
For a 5 band 1k ohm resistor, the first three digits will be 1, 0 and 0 respectively and the multiplier is 10 as there is only one zero after the three digits. If the tolerance is 10%, the fifth band of the resistor will have Silver color. Then,
The color coding of 5 bands 1k Ohm resistor is 1001K and the colors of the bands are Brown, Black, Black, Brown and Silver.
| Band number | Color | Code |
| 1st band | Brown | 1 |
| 2nd band | Black | 0 |
| 3rd band | Black | 0 |
| 4th Band | Brown | 1 |
| 5th Band | Silver (if tolerance is 10%) | K |
1000 Ohm resistor color code with 6 bands
If there is a sixth band, then it will imply its temperature coefficient. If the temperature coefficient of the 1k ohm resistor is 0.5, then the color of the sixth band will be green which is coded by the digit “5”. Then,
The color code of 1k ohm resistor with 6 bands will be 1001K4 with the colors of the bands as Brown, Black, Black, Brown, Silver and Green.
| Band number | Color | Code |
| 1st band | Brown | 1 |
| 2nd band | Black | 0 |
| 3rd band | Black | 0 |
| 4th Band | Brown | 1 |
| 5th Band | Silver (if tolerance is 10%) | K |
| 6th Band | Green (if the temperature coefficient is 0.5 ) | 5 |
Note: Tolerance and Temperature coefficient can be of different values for different 1 kilo-ohm resistors. We need to use the coding accordingly. For example: if the tolerance is 5%, then the fifth band will be of golden color and the corresponding code will be J instead of K. Similarly, if the temperature coefficient is 25, then the color of the sixth band will be Yellow which has the code as 4.
In this way, one can identify the 1k ohm resistor by reading its color code. There can be different codes depending on the number of bands the resistor has. However, the values of the resistance will always be 1000 ohms.
Thank you!
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