Electronics Equipment Module
UCCS Physics Labs
Table of Contents
Resistor color code
DMM
Power supplies
2
3
4
FYI
FYI
Thomas Edison designed a helicopter that would work with gunpowder. It ended up blowing up and also
blew up his factory.
Electronics Equipment Module - 1
Resistor Color code
Common resistors contain a code of colored bands that expresses the value of its
resistance and the uncertainty of this value.
Resistor
4th band
3rd band
st
2nd band
1 band
The forth band is either gold or silver. Therefore, to find the first band go to the opposite
side of the code as the gold or silver band.
Using the resistor code
Bands 1 and 2 are the first two digits in the resistance value. The third is the
power of 10 multiplier. The last band is the uncertainty of the resistance. The following
colors correspond to these numbers or multiplier.
Color
Number
Multiplier
black
0
10 = 1
brown
1
101 = 10
red
2
102 = 100
orange
3
103 = 1000
yellow
4
104 = 10,000
green
5
105 = 100,000
blue
6
106 = 1,000,000
violet
7
107 = 10,000,000
gray
8
108 = 100,000,000
white
9
109 = 1,000,000,000
gold
silver
Uncertainty (%)
0
10-1 = 0.1
-2
10 = 0.01
Electronics Equipment Module - 2
5%
 10 %
Example
What is the value with the following bands: brown - black - red - gold
first digit = first band = brown = 1
second digit = second band = black = 0
multiplier = third band = red = 102 = 100
Therefore,
10 X 102 = 10 X 100 = 1000
With an uncertainty of  5 % (forth band gold).
It’s just that easy!!
DMM (Digital Multi-Meter)
Measurement select
AC/DC Voltage(V) Current(A) Resistance(k)
Signal connection (Note: use the “mA” terminal and
“Common” to measure a current, 2A MAX! Otherwise,
use the “Common” and “V/kΩ/S” terminal for the rest of
the measurements.
On/Off
button
Measurement Range select
The DMM (Digital Mutli Meter) is the great for measuring stable voltages, currents and
resistances. Therefore, we shall be using this device whenever we need a DC circuit
measurement or something that will not change with time. In order to measure
something that changes with time we will use the computer, it is perfectly suited for that
job.
Electronics Equipment Module - 3
Power Supply
Voltage
Meter
Current
Meter
Current
Controls
Voltage
Controls
Power Button
Output Connectors
There are separate controls for the voltage and current outputs. Be careful that the
current does not get too high! Keep the current knob turned down as low as possible.
Your instructor will help you with this until you get the hang of it.
Electronics Equipment Module - 4