1k Ohm resistor Color code with 3 4 5 & 6 bands

1k ohm carbon resistor is one of the popular resistors in Physics and Engineering laboratories. It has wide uses in different practical circuits. Carbon resistors are identified by the colors of bands on their surface. Therefore, one can calculate the resistance value of such resistors by reading the color codes. In this tutorial page, we are going to learn how to read the color code of 1k ohm resistor with 3, 4, 5 or 6 bands. Before this, please go through the coding for each color. Here is the color code chart for carbon resistors.

3 bands 1k Ohm resistor color code

1k ohm = 1000 ohm.

For a three-band 1k ohm resistor, the first two digits are 1 and 0 respectively and the multiplier is 100 as there are two zeros after the first two digits. 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.

If you don’t know how are the codes 1, 0, 2, M, etc. used, please go through this post: Resistor color code chart

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!

Related post:

1. Carbon resistor color coding rules
2. 100 Ohm resistor color code
3. 10k ohm resistor color code