Where to get certain resistor values?

[Analog Kid]

I guess I'm only familiar with (and only have) resistors in the "E12" series.
Shopping online, and I'm looking for a resistor kit that has values that I currently lack.
One of them is any multiple of 3: 30Ω, 300Ω, 3KΩ, etc.
What series has these values in it? and where can I get them for $cheap$? (1/4 watt variety)
Jameco doesn't seem to have any of these.

[themadhippy]

What series has these values in it

E24

[TimFox]

Otherwise known as 5% values.
3.01 k, etc is a 1% value in the E96 series.

[Analog Kid]

What series has these values in it

E24

So where's  a good place to buy these?

[TimFox]

I think that almost everyone sells them.
5%, 1/4 W resistors are extremely common:  what tolerance do you need?
Certainly DigiKey, Mouser, etc.
Mouser has cheap 1% Yageo metal film axial-lead resistors for $0.12 in singles and $0.046 at quantity 10.

[Analog Kid]

Tried Mouser.
Through-hole kits.
Result: 1 product.
No go.

Any more suggestions? aaaaargh ...

(BTW, 5% is fine. Must be through-hole, though.)

[jpanhalt]

I have reluctantly bough some resistor kits off Amazon. So far, the ones I have tested were within spec.  Why Amz?  Small order, fast shipping, and no shipping.  Total cost can be less than fixed rate shipping from DigiKey.  I do not make getting electronic parts from Amz that cannot be tested a practice..

Here's one kt with 3.0...

https://www.amazon.com/Minidodoca-Tolerance-Resistors-Assortment-Compliant/dp/B0BNWSCCJZ/ref=sr_1_14?crid=3AG11RNL2PT0W&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9auwJDD1kOZT_VAxZUQqvymkv_CjOZwl-NmqNsu9WmQpvkCoyp9zH8bABZDuLzbOpwnmoVG3CnrSc1v2rwIZ-8GEIWF7-fAQkMk6Ysona1zfaXgwLm9377rDiDoH6tyrQUJG3Li5S0qijDuSMOsogStB_wghKmfwOQBQa09eS_lgUYkPhwHqxukRdvTQyVrEoDaKuKc1CUssDR3baHlVMn8iCqBimsp64m_gM8U__NY.Xt_T9qo4u9NV72G0S_KhUpw5qMKP7A62G8ZP9tKPMJ0&dib_tag=se&keywords=resistor%2Bkits&qid=1735531978&sprefix=resisttor%2Bkits%2Caps%2C143&sr=8-14&th=1

[Solder_Junkie]

Another vote for Amazon. I bought a kit of 2600 x 1% 1/4W metal film E24 series resistors a few days ago. My bag of old 5% E12 carbon film resistors were in serious need of replacement. Similar kits are listed on eBay, but Amazon is so convenient and "free" next day delivery too.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZPVMT9M

SJ

[magic]

Did you scratch the blue paint to see if they are actually metal firm?

Lots of those Chinese kits are carbon film resistors in blue paint.
Metal film resistors also exist, but it's a lottery, as usual.

Also, 3.0 = 1.8 + 1.2.

[golden_labels]

RoyalOhm MF006FFE012KIT, perhaps something from TE Connectivity RES KIT series (CFR16, LR1RS, CFR25RS, …).

But why would you buy an entire set, instead of just the values you need? I can understand if somebody starts a professional lab, but to just refill missing values?

[Solder_Junkie]

But why would you buy an entire set, instead of just the values you need? I can understand if somebody starts a professional lab, but to just refill missing values?

It is expensive to buy individual resistors, when you add the postage. Buying a kit which includes most of what you need for several years worth of projects makes sense.

You also can “select on test” from a good selection of resistors, if you need to tweak any values.

The Amazon kit of resistors only cost a few percent more than the small order charge from Mouser, not a problem if buying several expensive parts too, but for something with 2 or 3 transistors it works out very expensive.

Incidentally, I scraped the paint from one of those Amazon resistors and it looks like shiny metal film underneath.

SJ

[Analog Kid]

I have reluctantly bough some resistor kits off Amazon. So far, the ones I have tested were within spec.  Why Amz?  Small order, fast shipping, and no shipping.  Total cost can be less than fixed rate shipping from DigiKey.  I do not make getting electronic parts from Amz that cannot be tested a practice..

Here's one kt with 3.0...

https://www.amazon.com/Minidodoca-Tolerance-Resistors-Assortment-Compliant/dp/B0BNWSCCJZ/ref=sr_1_14?crid=3AG11RNL2PT0W&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9auwJDD1kOZT_VAxZUQqvymkv_CjOZwl-NmqNsu9WmQpvkCoyp9zH8bABZDuLzbOpwnmoVG3CnrSc1v2rwIZ-8GEIWF7-fAQkMk6Ysona1zfaXgwLm9377rDiDoH6tyrQUJG3Li5S0qijDuSMOsogStB_wghKmfwOQBQa09eS_lgUYkPhwHqxukRdvTQyVrEoDaKuKc1CUssDR3baHlVMn8iCqBimsp64m_gM8U__NY.Xt_T9qo4u9NV72G0S_KhUpw5qMKP7A62G8ZP9tKPMJ0&dib_tag=se&keywords=resistor%2Bkits&qid=1735531978&sprefix=resisttor%2Bkits%2Caps%2C143&sr=8-14&th=1

Order placed, with no reluctance at all. (At that's what my reluctance-ometer says.)

BTW, that horrible URL can be shortened to https://www.amazon.com/Minidodoca-Tolerance-Resistors-Assortment-Compliant/dp/B0BNWSCCJZ with no loss of function. (Cut off everything starting with /ref=.)

[tooki]

Tried Mouser.
Through-hole kits.
Result: 1 product.
No go.

Any more suggestions? aaaaargh ...

(BTW, 5% is fine. Must be through-hole, though.)

You also need to select “axial” in the Termination Style, not just “through-hole”. Then it’s 7 products, not 1.

[Analog Kid]

Thanks. I tried that and got 6 results; close enough, I guess.
But Mouser definitely isn't the place to get a resistor kit, at least not for me:
There's one item that's less than $10: 400 resistors, 20 values.
Doesn't show the values or the tolerance.
The rest of the items listed start at ~$200.

I'll stick with my Amazon order that's on the way (~$26 incl. shipping for more than 3K pieces of 1% resistors, presumably not fake ones).

[Konkedout]

How do you plan to use these resistors?  Do you plan to lay out pcbs or will you be hand wiring or using proto boards of some type?

If you will be using pcbs, then go with surface mount.  Cheaper, easier to swap, smaller.  In my opinion, small axial resistors (below 500 mW or 1W) are obsolete for use on pcbs.

My hands have never been very steady but I use 0603 and larger chips with no problem.  (I use a small 0805 footprint for 0603.)

If you are more comfortable doing so, start out with 1206 chips.  That is what we did when starting with surface mount in the 1990s.

[Analog Kid]

Nope, no surface-mount for me.
I'm a hobbyist. I typically use bare perfboard (no copper) and hand-wiring.
Most of the stuff I use is obsolete (DIP chips, etc.).

[Haenk]

BTW, that horrible URL can be shortened to https://www.amazon.com/Minidodoca-Tolerance-Resistors-Assortment-Compliant/dp/B0BNWSCCJZ with no loss of function. (Cut off everything starting with /ref=.)

BTW, that horrible URL can be shortened to https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNWSCCJZ

Those chinese resistors vary in quality, can't beat the price though, and in general they are better than "good enough". The "1%" tolerance is sometimes not met, more like 1.5% or so - maybe that's why the are so cheap (factory rejects), however coming from carbon these are a largely better choice.
Just make sure to buy the 1/4W, not the 1/8W - those are really flimsy.

[jpanhalt]

Nope, no surface-mount for me.
I'm a hobbyist. I typically use bare perfboard (no copper) and hand-wiring.

I use solderable breadboards laid out like the non-solderable versions.  TH work fine; however, 805 size chips fit very nicely on the 0.1" (2.54mm) spacing.  See attachment above the SOT23-3 pads.  I just received the JLCPCB  boards discussed here (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/eda/design-solderable-breadboard/msg5744611/#msg5744611 ) and am anxious to try them.

[tooki]

Thanks. I tried that and got 6 results; close enough, I guess.
But Mouser definitely isn't the place to get a resistor kit, at least not for me:
There's one item that's less than $10: 400 resistors, 20 values.
Doesn't show the values or the tolerance.
The rest of the items listed start at ~$200.

I'll stick with my Amazon order that's on the way (~$26 incl. shipping for more than 3K pieces of 1% resistors, presumably not fake ones).

Im sure they’re close enough in value for most hobby use.

What really annoys me about the cheap resistor kit I got on eBay or AliExpress years ago is how stupidly thin the leads are. Practically impossible to use in a breadboard because the leads bend when you look at them wrong, but if you do manage to insert them, they’re too thin to be properly retained.

Let’s hope yours are better.

[magic]

Let's be serious - they won't be.

I recall that bd139 recommended some online store somewhere in Asia where one could order Royal Ohm THT resistors cheaply in quantities of 50 or 100.

[Analog Kid]

Let's be serious - they won't be.

I'll let y'all know once my package arrives.

[Benta]

For passives, I mostly go to DigiKey.

[golden_labels]

magic, Analog Kid: the primary problem with suspiciously cheap imports is not quality. It is consistency. You may score a decent deal, but you never know what is coming in the next order. And repeatability is of no less value than quality. What you get from established brands is the high chance of getting the same product each time over years. When you buy unknown thing from no-name middleman, you get whatever they themselves managed to fish this month for lowest price possible. Usually they themselves hardly know, what are the items they sell.

I suppose it also depends on the perspective. If one is a beginner or a hobbyist on budget, and uses very small number of components, then “a resistor” is probably equally good no matter where it comes from and how many of them have issues. I never had trouble buying indicator LEDs from China. If some out of hundreds don’t work, it’s not an issue in this scenario. And perhaps for a novice it’s even better to just buy low quality resistors and destroy those instead of more expensive elements.

Keep in mind, however, that resistors are not just resistances. Keeping resistance within tolerance limits is a no brainer. What you buy in a good quality product is many more crucial parameters. Voltage rating, power rating, good and predictable aging characteristics, reliability in a range of working conditions and environments to start with. Cheap, no-name imports have none of those specified and they are the hard part. So while using them, remember that they shouldn’t be used in line voltage circuits, where higher power may occur and the device works unattended, where leads may corrode or their anodic index is relevant etc.

[Analog Kid]

Most of what you just described are second-order effects when it comes to the lowly resistor.
At this point in my explorations, I'm mostly in the first-order realm. If the resistors are even close to their supposed 1% tolerances, I'll be happy.
And with more than 1,300 resistors about to land in my mailbox, I think I'll be set for a while; there won't be a second order for quite some time. (I already have a pretty good collection of decent-quality 5% resistors.)

[watchmaker]

I buy my resistors from Ali and have no issues with them being out of tolerance.  In fact, as measured by my Shannons,  I get very little variation in values.

I was curious about the comment about metal film so I scraped the coating off resistors from two different suppliers.