Workbench Skills Part 5: Measure resistance the right way
// WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
Power off and take the part out of the circuit, then read ohms; compare with the colour code and its tolerance.
// LESSON NOTES
Your 1 kΩ resistor reads 500 Ω? 😱 Your meter isn't broken!
🔌 It's still in the circuit — another part gives the test current a second path (1 kΩ + 1 kΩ side by side = 500 Ω).
1️⃣ Power OFF and lift one leg out.
2️⃣ Don't hold both metal tips — your body is a path too!
✅ Now it reads 980 Ω: brown-black-red-gold = 1 kΩ ±5 % → anything from 950 to 1,050 Ω is good.
Read the voiceover (transcript)
- Why does this one k resistor read only five hundred?
- It's still in the circuit! Another part shares the path.
- Rule one: power off, and take one leg out.
- Rule two: don't hold both probes. Your body is a path too!
- So what should it read now?
- Nine eighty ohms!
- Inside five percent of one k. Good!
- Next: measure current, the meter goes in the circuit! Follow for Part six!
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