75 kΩ resistor colour code
violetgreenorangegold
75 kΩ ±5%
violet green orange gold — four bands, read from the end with the bands closest to it.
| Band 1 — first digit | violet = 7 |
| Band 2 — second digit | green = 5 |
| Band 3 — multiplier | orange × 1,000 |
| Band 4 — tolerance | gold ± 5% |
| Value | 75 kΩ |
| Acceptable range | 71.25 kΩ to 78.75 kΩ |
Reading it
The two digit bands give 75 and the multiplier band multiplies it by 1,000:
75 × 1,000 = 75 kΩ
Which end to start from is the part that catches people. The tolerance band is the one set slightly apart from the other three, and it is gold or silver far more often than not — neither of which is a digit colour, so a gold or silver band tells you which end you are at. Read from the opposite end.
What ±5% actually means
A 75 kΩ ±5% resistor is in specification anywhere from 71.25 kΩ to 78.75 kΩ. A meter reading of 71.25 kΩ on this part is not a fault and not a reason to replace it.
75 kΩ is one of the E24 values — the 24 steps per decade that ±5% resistors are made in. The steps are spaced so that the tolerance bands of neighbouring values just about touch: there is no gap between one value's range and the next, and no point making anything in between. It is the same reasoning that gives ±10% parts only 12 values per decade.
The same resistor with five bands
Precision resistors carry five bands: three digits, a multiplier and a tighter tolerance. The same 75 kΩ reads
violetgreenblackredbrown
— violet green black red brown. The digits become 7, 5 and 0, and the multiplier drops one decade to red to compensate. The brown final band is ±1% rather than ±5%, which narrows the range to 74.25 kΩ–75.75 kΩ.
How much this one can take
A resistor's limit is heat, not voltage or current on their own: the power it turns into heat is V² ÷ R, so the same wattage allows very different numbers at 75 kΩ than it does at a value ten times away. This is the part of a colour code lookup people actually came for and charts leave out.
| Rating | Maximum current | Maximum voltage |
|---|---|---|
| ⅛ W | 1.3 mA | 96.8 V |
| ¼ W | 1.8 mA | 136.9 V |
| ½ W | 2.6 mA | 193.6 V |
| 1 W | 3.7 mA | 273.9 V |
The quarter-watt part is the one in everybody's drawer: at 75 kΩ it will carry 1.8 mA or stand 136.9 V across it, and not both at once — those are the same limit expressed two ways.
75 kΩ exists only at ±5%
75 kΩ is an E24 value that is not in the E12 series, so it is made at ±5% and tighter but not at ±10%. That is why it is missing from cheap assortment boxes, which are usually E12 only — and why a design that calls for 75 kΩ is harder to service from a beginner's drawer than one that calls for 68 kΩ.
The nearest E12 value is 68 kΩ, 9.3% away, which is inside the ±5% band of neither part but close enough to substitute in most non-critical positions.
The same resistor as a surface-mount marking
Surface-mount resistors have no room for bands, so they carry printed digits instead — and 753 is what 75 kΩ looks like on one. The scheme is the colour code with the colours replaced by the digits they stood for: two significant figures and a count of zeros.
| Marking | Used on | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
753 | Three-digit, ±5% parts | 75 followed by 3 zeros |
7502 | Four-digit, ±1% parts | 750 followed by 2 zeros |
A four-digit marking is not a different system, only a more precise one: it carries three significant figures instead of two and takes one off the zero count, which is why 753 and 7502 are the same 75 kΩ. If a board has both on it, the four-digit parts are the ±1% ones.
Very small ±1% parts use a third scheme, EIA-96, where two digits index a table of values and a letter gives the multiplier — 01C rather than 1002. It only covers the E96 series, so it has no marking for most of the E24 values on this site, and a marking with a letter in the middle is never one of these codes.
Where 75 kΩ turns up
Tens of kilohms is the range for biasing, for the feedback around an op-amp, and for pull-ups where current draw matters more than noise immunity — a battery-powered design pulls up with 47 kΩ where a mains-powered one uses 4.7 kΩ.
Frequently asked questions
What is the colour code for a 75 kΩ resistor?
violet green orange gold on a four-band resistor: violet for 7, green for 5, orange for a multiplier of ×1,000, and gold for ±5%.
What resistor is violet green orange gold?
75 kΩ, ±5%. The first two bands are the digits 7 and 5, the third multiplies by 1,000, and the gold band is the tolerance.
What is the tolerance range of a 75 kΩ ±5% resistor?
71.25 kΩ to 78.75 kΩ. A resistor measuring anywhere in that range is within specification, which is why a meter reading of 71.25 kΩ on a 75 kΩ part is not a fault.
What is the five-band code for 75 kΩ?
violet green black red brown — three digit bands (7, 5, 0), then red as the multiplier and brown for ±1%. Five-band resistors carry an extra significant figure, so the third digit is the zero that a four-band code leaves to the multiplier.
Nearby values
- 82 kΩ resistor colour code — grey red orange gold
- 91 kΩ resistor colour code — white brown orange gold
- 100 kΩ resistor colour code — brown black yellow gold
- 110 kΩ resistor colour code — brown brown yellow gold
- 120 kΩ resistor colour code — brown red yellow gold
- 130 kΩ resistor colour code — brown orange yellow gold
- 150 kΩ resistor colour code — brown green yellow gold
- 160 kΩ resistor colour code — brown blue yellow gold
- 180 kΩ resistor colour code — brown grey yellow gold
- 200 kΩ resistor colour code — red black yellow gold