Standard Resistor Values

Almost everything in electrical engineering is standardized according to some national or international standard. The same is true for resistor resistance values in Ohms, which are standardized according to IEC 60063.

It is necessary to be familiar with standardized resistance values to pick the standard resistor value closest to the needed calculated value. Usually, if you search for a resistor with a resistance that is the same as your calculated value, you will probably find nothing. Therefore, the search should be based on standardized resistor resistance values derived from the IEC 60063 standard and its E number series and tolerances.

STANDARD RESISTOR TOLERANCES

The table below provides tolerances for each resistor series.

TOLERANCE %	E SERIES Number of resistor values in series
Wider than ±20	E3
±20	E6
±10	E12
±5	E24
±2	E48
Tighter than ±1	E96
	E192

The tolerances mentioned in the table above do not have to be the same for different manufacturers, so the datasheet should be checked. For example, the E24 resistor series also includes resistance values from the lower series E12, E6, and E3, which have wider tolerances. This is another reason to always check the datasheet to pick the correct resistor.

WHAT ARE E SERIES FOR STANDARD RESISTOR VALUES

The E series is a system of preferred numbers (also called preferred values) derived for use in electronic components. It consists of the E3, E6, E12, E24, E48, E96, and E192 series, where the number after the ‘E’ designates the quantity of logarithmic value “steps” per decade.

Standard IEC 60063 provides different series of numbers, which are then multiplied or divided by 10, 100, 1000, etc., to get standardized resistor values in Ohms.

These E series are divided into two main series:

Number series with two significant digits: E24, E12, E6, E3
Number series with three significant digits: E192, E96, E48

Each number after ‘E’ indicates how many numbers are in that series. For example, E24 has 24 numbers, and E192 has 192 numbers. To keep this article short and informative, we will show tables only for the most commonly used series, which is the two-digit number series E24. At the end of the article, there is a PDF file with all the above-mentioned resistor number series: E3, E6, E12, E24, E48, E96, E192.

The next table shows number series E24, E12, E6, E3 which are multiplied or divided by 10, 100, 1000, etc., to get standard resistor values.

E24	E12	E6	E3
10	10	10	10
11
12	12
13
15	15	15
16
18	18
20
22	22	22	22
24
27	27
30
33	33	33
36
39	39
43
47	47	47	47
51
56	56
62
68	68	68
75
82	82
91

E24 SERIES STANDARD RESISTOR VALUES

For example, we will show in the next table the calculated standardized resistance values for the E24 series of resistors, which have a ±5% tolerance and are the most common resistors on the market.

We obtained these resistor values by simply multiplying or dividing numbers from the E24 series from IEC 60063, shown in the table above, by decade numbers such as 10, 100, 1000, etc.

0.1 Ω	1 Ω	10 Ω	100 Ω	1 kΩ	10 kΩ	100 kΩ	1 MΩ
0.11 Ω	1.1 Ω	11 Ω	110 Ω	1.1 kΩ	11 kΩ	110 kΩ	1.1 MΩ
0.12 Ω	1.2 Ω	12 Ω	120 Ω	1.2 kΩ	12 kΩ	120 kΩ	1.2 MΩ
0.13 Ω	1.3 Ω	13 Ω	130 Ω	1.3 kΩ	13 kΩ	130 kΩ	1.3 MΩ
0.15 Ω	1.5 Ω	15 Ω	150 Ω	1.5 kΩ	15 kΩ	150 kΩ	1.5 MΩ
0.16 Ω	1.6 Ω	16 Ω	160 Ω	1.6 kΩ	16 kΩ	160 kΩ	1.6 MΩ
0.18 Ω	1.8 Ω	18 Ω	180 Ω	1.8 kΩ	18 kΩ	180 kΩ	1.8 MΩ
0.2 Ω	2 Ω	20 Ω	200 Ω	2 kΩ	20 kΩ	200 kΩ	2 MΩ
0.22 Ω	2.2 Ω	22 Ω	220 Ω	2.2 kΩ	22 kΩ	220 kΩ	2.2 MΩ
0.24 Ω	2.4 Ω	24 Ω	240 Ω	2.4 kΩ	24 kΩ	240 kΩ	2.4 MΩ
0.27 Ω	2.7 Ω	27 Ω	270 Ω	2.7 kΩ	27 kΩ	270 kΩ	2.7 MΩ
0.3 Ω	3 Ω	30 Ω	300 Ω	3 kΩ	30 kΩ	300 kΩ	3 MΩ
0.33 Ω	3.3 Ω	33 Ω	330 Ω	3.3 kΩ	33 kΩ	330 kΩ	3.3 MΩ
0.36 Ω	3.6 Ω	36 Ω	360 Ω	3.6 kΩ	36 kΩ	360 kΩ	3.6 MΩ
0.39 Ω	3.9 Ω	39 Ω	390 Ω	3.9 kΩ	39 kΩ	390 kΩ	3.9 MΩ
0.43 Ω	4.3 Ω	43 Ω	430 Ω	4.3 kΩ	43 kΩ	430 kΩ	4.3 MΩ
0.47 Ω	4.7 Ω	47 Ω	470 Ω	4.7 kΩ	47 kΩ	470 kΩ	4.7 MΩ
0.51 Ω	5.1 Ω	51 Ω	510 Ω	5.1 kΩ	51 kΩ	510 kΩ	5.1 MΩ
0.56 Ω	5.6 Ω	56 Ω	560 Ω	5.6 kΩ	56 kΩ	560 kΩ	5.6 MΩ
0.62 Ω	6.2 Ω	62 Ω	620 Ω	6.2 kΩ	62 kΩ	620 kΩ	6.2 MΩ
0.68 Ω	6.8 Ω	68 Ω	680 Ω	6.8 kΩ	68 kΩ	680 kΩ	6.8 MΩ
0.75 Ω	7.5 Ω	75 Ω	750 Ω	7.5 kΩ	75 kΩ	750 kΩ	7.5 MΩ
0.82 Ω	8.2 Ω	82 Ω	820 Ω	8.2 kΩ	82 kΩ	820 kΩ	8.2 MΩ
0.91 Ω	9.1 Ω	91 Ω	910 Ω	9.1 kΩ	91 kΩ	910 kΩ	9.1 MΩ

For more information, you can check the complete list in the PDF with standard resistor values, and you can use the standard resistor values calculator, which makes it much easier to get as close as possible to your calculated resistor value.