Resistors - Measured Value vs. Nominal

[Kuku]

Is it normal to get readings on a multimeter for resistors that are pretty far off of the nominal ratings? I have 6 resistors, all red/black/red/gold, which is 2kohms +/-5%.

I'm measuring 840 ohms on all of them except for one, which is reading 1.4 kohms. None of these values even come close to the percent error. So what's the deal...?

 

[mudpuppy]

Just throwing out ideas:

Did you zero your meter? How about trying a different meter?

 

[benbo]

Is it normal to get readings on a multimeter for resistors that are pretty far off of the nominal ratings? I have 6 resistors, all red/black/red/gold, which is 2kohms +/-5%.
I'm measuring 840 ohms on all of them except for one, which is reading 1.4 kohms. None of these values even come close to the percent error. So what's the deal...?

I remember when I used to use a lot of resistors. These banded resistors were sometimes way off, even outside tolerance. But not as far off as you are getting here. I ultimately had to switch to precision resistors because we were using them as sense resistors in some set-up.

Other than what mudpuppy says, are you sure that first band is red and not black? But I guess even that would be a little far off.

 

[Kuku]

I remember when I used to use a lot of resistors. These banded resistors were sometimes way off, even outside tolerance. But not as far off as you are getting here. I ultimately had to switch to precision resistors because we were using them as sense resistors in some set-up.
Other than what mudpuppy says, are you sure that first band is red and not black? But I guess even that would be a little far off.

Black is definitely in the middle. There's some debate about whether it is orange or red for the other two. But even then the numbers would still be way off. I figure it is my meter as it is pretty old.

 

[MA_PE]

How's the battery in the meter? Resistance is based on the resistor getting a nominal voltage created by the meter battery. If the voltage is low the reading will be proportionally low.

If you acceess to a 4-wire meter then you can get meuch more accurate results.

 

[Kuku]

Thanks for all the replies. Changed meters, and got more accurate results. Like I said my meter is pretty old.