Hi all,

I'm a beginner in electronics, playing with simple circuits. When I want to know the value of a resistor I use a multimeter. I thought it can be cool to have an app for a phone that can use its camera to recognize resistor color coding. I've checked the iPhone AppStore but all apps that I found require you to specify colors by hand.

Does anybody know about such an app for iPhone or Android?

 

Aw c'mon...Gimmee a break...!!!
It doesn't take that much effort to memorize the color code.....

 

"ElectroDroid" for android (prob an icrap version too)
its got
Resistor color code
SMD resistor codes
Inductor color codes
Ohms law calculator
reactance/resonance calculator
rc/lc/rl filter calc
voltage divider calc
resistor ratio/series/parallel calc
capacitor charge
op amp crkt designer
led resistor calc
voltage reg calc
555 timer calc
power dissipation calc
battery life calc
inductor design tool
voltage drop calc
pcb trace width calc
decibel/freq/ad converter

plus common connector pinouts, ampacity tables/micro cross ref,etc..


and its FREE

Its like having a nerdy EE in my pocket.

 

For a moment, I thought you were going to write the app. Beginners might use it as a crutch, for a while, but the truth is, you soon get good enough to read a resistor as fast as you can read English.

Still, it's a money making idea if you can write the app.

Edit: mcgyver just shot holes in my theory.

 

There's a list of mnemonics here (some not so politically correct) to help remember the color code.

 

PackratKing, I suppose you are right, but still, sometimes I have difficulty to tell a red band from a brown one on a resistor.

mcgyver, thanks for the reference, but "ElectroDroid" does exactly what all iPhone apps do: it asks you to choose the colors from the menu. I want to "show" a resistor to the phone's camera and read its value on the screen, or better yet, the phone will spell it to me with a nice girl voice

#12, there is a pro version of the app mentioned by mcgyver, so maybe it's still a good idea for the app.

 

There's a list of mnemonics here (some not so politically correct) to help remember the color code.

I am tempted to stress that this is really originally wikiPedia.

wikiPedia is more a pronounciation assistance than anything.

Read wikiPEdia

 

Thanks!!! The least politically correct is one I'll remember

 

Hmm. I simply use one and the same value for all resistors if any possible. Often this is 2.2 KOhms. Also SMD resistors have a numerical code imprinted.

But yes I can read them actually.

For the metal film resistors, I do not usually try, as the contrast is often bad. Metal film for instance is used for 1W resistors. I always use a multimeter, or take them from a bag.

 

True. The last resort is an ohm meter, but it always works.

 

sometimes I have difficulty to tell a red band from a brown one on a resistor.

and so would a camera vision app..

 

and so would a camera vision app..

Or maybe not. It will be interesting to check.

 

Please report back here when you find out.

 

PackratKing, I suppose you are right, but still, sometimes I have difficulty to tell a red band from a brown one on a resistor.

.......................

Do you perhaps have some degree of color blindness? Have you ever taken a color blindness test?

 

I don't have any vision defects and I've seen red turn to more like brown from heat.

 

Do you perhaps have some degree of color blindness? Have you ever taken a color blindness test?

Have you ever seen an old resistor before

 

The annoying ones are the 1% Blue resistors with semi-translucent color bands

Not to mention deciding which end is the wider band so you know the direction to read it.

 

Aw c'mon...Gimmee a break...!!!
It doesn't take that much effort to memorize the color code.....

Bad boys rush our young girls but Violet gives willingly.


But I am with the OP, I would rather use a calculator. My brain is too old.

Not a mobile app but Electronics Assistant is pretty good.

 

how are you with reading the 4 band color code and the 5 band color code on a resistor?or the old body-tip-dot system on the older resistors? it takes me seconds to see by the colors on the resistor what value it is but if you are in any doubt a meter will tell you all you need to know

 

how are you with reading the 4 band color code and the 5 band color code on a resistor?or the old body-tip-dot system on the older resistors? it takes me seconds to see by the colors on the resistor what value it is but if you are in any doubt a meter will tell you all you need to know

Pretty much, until you get to burnt resistors where all the colors fade to brown/black/dark grey shades.

If a Video DSP App that can decode "burnt colors" gets produced, it would sell like hotcakes!