You know, a resistor is a basic component you will always need for every electronics project you do. I can’t remember any of my projects that didn’t require a resistor. So I guess, it’s not wise if you are too much into electronics and you always buy resistors according to each project’s needs, it is just not very economical.
The solution is to buy the whole resistor kit having different resistor values and fill out the values, your project, or the circuit you are repairing demands. There are so many best resistor kits available in the local market or online. Just pick one kit according to your budget and requirements.
Though the resistor seems to be an easy to pick device. But trust me it is not that simple. There are some basic key parameters that if you miss accidentally. You may have less accurate or sometimes very bad results.
In this article, I try to give you every possible detail about how to select the best resistor kit, so you can make a good decision. Also, I try to give you some recommendations that I personally like.
Choosing the right resistor kit
It is always good to understand what type of resistors you need to buy. When I started to learn electronics, my strategy was to make a schematic of the circuit, which I found interesting. I tried to learn everything about the circuit in general, like which part is doing what?
After a complete understanding of the circuit, I used to go to the market and buy all the components. The big mistake I always made, without my realization, I just bought all the components without any concern for their current, voltage, and power ratings. And guess what the component which burnt the first was always a resistor.
I just burnt a lot of resistors along my way. With time my strategy of buying a couple of extra resistors, in case they burn out, was changed when I learned about resistor rating concepts. From that point, my world is safe. Now I want to help you make your world safer.
Technical parameters to look at when choosing a top quality resistor kits
Now let us see some of the things you should keep in mind while going to buy a resistor assortment kit for your project.
a. Range of values
Having lots of resistor values are best. But keep in mind, you don’t need so many values all the time. So, see that values are standard. A good circuit designer always goes for the selection of standard values, else there are power consumption and accuracy problems.
Following is the table of standard resistor values for your reference.
Besides 5% tolerance values, there are also 1%, 2%, and 10% values available. This depends on the requirement of your projects.
So, your resistor kits should have a variety of different values, but they must be standard. Don’t worry about other values, you can always get them by playing parallel and series combinations.
Also, it is recommended to test each and every resistor (for correct resistance value) with a multimeter or a component tester like the m328 (product link) to ensure better results.
b. Power rating
Ignore this parameter and chances are you may end up burning a lot of resistors. Usually, when you are new to electronics you don’t know how much voltage you should apply, and due to this lack of knowledge, you do overpowering and make things to burn.
In the case of a resistor, like any other component, one must be really careful about how much power he is giving to it. By power rating, I mean the power limit. There are various power ratings available, among them are 1/8W, 1/4W, 1/2W, and 1W
These power values simply represent the power ratings of a resistor. It is the warning sign to tell you not to exceed these power limits, or else you will burn your device. The question is how to know which power rating you need to buy. Let me explain it with some calculations below:
Now let’s check for voltage,
This means the IKOhm resistor with a 1/2W power rating can withstand a maximum of 22mA current and 23V voltage. If you exceed these limits, your resistor will burn out. So, be careful.
I hope this has made you think that if your circuit has current and voltage in the above range i.e. 22mA and 23V then you should pick the best resistor kits with power ratings of 1/2W. Use the above formulas and calculate the maximum current and voltage ratings for the rest of the power ratings.
c. Copper lead wires
We know, the resistor is a two terminals device. The two leads, terminals, should be of good quality. They should be thick and strong. Because if they are too weak, you will have a lot of problems, putting them in a breadboard, or for soldering.
d. Carbon composition or carbon film resistors
Resistors are made of different materials. Due to this, they are preferred over each other according to the circuit requirements.
The carbon composition resistors are the best used for the absorption of high transients for short periods. These are bulky resistors that are capable of absorbing high transients. Because of being bulky, and their tendency to produce a large amount of noise, they have lost their importance these days.
They find their applications in circuits where there is a need to absorb high transients and also in vintage radios. They were next modified in carbon film resistors with lesser noise levels. Carbon film resistors are smaller and more stable.
e. Metal film or metal oxide film resistors
Metal oxide film resistors are composed of a thin metal oxide layer deposited on ceramic conductors. These were derived from carbon film resistors with better performance. After these, came the metal film resistors with enhanced performance and much fewer noise levels. These are the standard resistors used these days with tolerance levels of 1% or 2%.
f. Wire wound resistors
These resistors are stable and can achieve very accurate resistor values hence are used in instrument testing and power applications. Some of them are even used with heat sinks to reduce heat.
g. The Surface mount resistors
The Surface mount resistors are tiny resistors that take special care when used in a circuit. You have to solder it on PCB and you can not play with it using breadboards. But it is worth knowing about it and spending some time on it. Because as you learn and learn you will end on this resistor.
I think I have shared all the information that I have about the topic. Now let’s have look at some resistor kits. I will start with a very basic one then I will talk about some advanced resistor assortment kits. So please keep on reading.
Also, keep in mind, I am not going to repeatedly talk about the above features of the resistor kits over again and again. They are applied to all the below-mentioned kits.
List of some best resistor kits
Picking the best resistor kit should not be that much of an issue. In summary, just ask these questions and pick one that fits it.
- What power rating do I need?
- Which material and tolerance is required
But for a brief, if you are in a hurry, metal film resistors with a tolerance of 1% are the best available resistors. All of the best brands provide a resistor assortment kit with the mentioned specification. All are the best and most in the same price range.
1. LORESO Resistor Assortment Kit
Loreso is a famous USA brand providing all types of electronics components assortment kits. The resistor kit from this brand consists of 1200 pieces of 38 different resistor values.
All resistors are metal film based with a power rating of 1/4W which is a standard rating. The resistance ranges from 0-1MOhm covering all the ranges that a hobbyist would ever need for his projects.
If this best resistor kit has got your attention. Then there is the link, LORESO Resistor Assortment Kit (Amazon link), to follow for your own further research.
The best alternative to this resistor kit is the following. You can also check it out:
4. AUKENIEN Resistor Assortment Kit
Another best resistor kit is from Aukenien brand. It has a total of 400 pieces with 40 different resistor values. The best thing about this kit is – it is available in all required power ratings.
The resistors are well packed and organized in a beautiful box. This kit is RoHS compliant and comes with a tolerance of 1%. If this is what you like then here is the link you can follow to know more about this kit yourself, AUKENIEN Resistor Assortment Kit (Amazon link).
The best alternative to this resistor kit is the following. You can also check it out:
7. Joe Knows Electronics resistor kit
Joe Knows Electronics, from Las Vegas, is a popular brand for manufacturing electronic component kits. The brand provides very good customer service. Customer service is always a call away to assist you with your problems.
Joe Knows resistor kit comes with a power rating of 1/4W. Tolerance is very good. The package consists of 16 different values of standard E12 from 0 to 10MOhm, which is very nice.
The beauty of Joe Knows is each ohm value is individually packaged and neatly labeled for easy organization. You can also verify each value by comparing it to the provided color code chart.
If this kit has got your attention then here is the link you can follow to know more about it yourself, Joe Knows Resistor kit (Amazon Link)
For me, the good feature of this kit is its high-quality extra-thick copper lead wires. Because thick copper lead wires make it easy to work on a breadboard. It might be the first kit for electronics hobbyists, DIYers, and every person who wants to invest their time in playing with electronics.
8. E-Projects resistor kit
Like Joe Knows Electronics, E-Projects is a popular brand for great customer service and designing quality electronic components. E-project resistors are good for people who play with Arduino boards and breadboards.
The beauty of the E-Projects resistor kit is it’s organized and labeled in 43 packages of 25 pieces each. Each resistor has got a power rating of 1/4W, which is very good for low current and voltages. It is simple to just pull out any value of a resistor from the package and put it into a project.
However I recommend, that you verify every value by high accurate multimeter before placing it in your project. If you do not have a multimeter at least verify it by color code which is here in the resistor kit.
The noticeable thing about this kit is, it has got thick copper leads so you will have no problem plunging it in breadboards (Stiff 24 gauge leads i.e. 0.022 inches, 0.55 mm) or working on PCB boards. All values follow the E16 standard and are perfect for PCB soldering and solderless plug-in breadboards.
If you want to know more about this resistor assortment kit. Then here is the link you can follow, E-Projects – E6 Resistor Kit (Amazon link).
9. The Best Resistor Kit from Elegoo
Just like the other mentioned brands, Elegoo is famous for manufacturing hardware devices like robots, LED strip lights, remote controllers, and much more. Elegoo produces high-quality products without any doubt. I believe in quality brands, brands with a proven record in the industry, and this brand is one of them.
The best resistor kit they make is made of the metal film with a tolerance of 1% which is a very nice feature. Well labeled and organized with 17 different values and RoHS certification. It is best for people playing with Arduino.
I am listing it here for personal two reasons.
- The price is low as you have only 17 different values of a resistor, which is fair enough.
- Secondly, the low price is just for less number of resistors and not for quality compromise.
To know more about this kit. Here is the link, ELEGOO Resistor Kit Assortment (Amazon link), which you can follow for your further research.
10. MelkTemn Resistors Assortment kit
Most of the kits you saw above are metal film-based. Because it is only possible to have 1% tolerance with metal film techniques and technology. You may have also noticed that there is no such difference in any kit. All are great. The difference is with a set of pieces and values.
Now if you want to have a resistor kit with a bunch of values then MelkTemn would be a great fit for you. It has 2600 pieces with 130 different values – which is really amazing.
The resistor comes in a well-organized box. Keep in mind that this kit is oriented toward DIY projects. Like best for if you are a beginner and want to experiment with electronics, especially with soldering.
If you want details about this kit. Here is the link you can follow for your own further research and investigation, MelkTemn Resistors Assortment kit (Amazon link).
The best alternative to this resistor kit is the following. You can also check it out:
12. BOJACK 1/4W Resistor kit
Bojack is another popular brand for making quality component assortment kits. They mainly focus on DIY projects and make components that are best for entry-level practice projects.
The resistor kit from Bojack is carbon film made which means it has a tolerance of 5% which is acceptable at entry-level electronics. This kit has 1000 pieces with 25 different resistor values.
The power rating of this kit is 1/4W and has thicker metal pins to have a better connection and stable performance features which help you finish the electrical experiments project faster and more smoothly.
To know more about this kit, here is the link you can follow for your own further research and investigation: BOJACK Resistor kit (Amazon link)
13. BOJACK 0.5W Resistor kit
The above kit from Bojack is rated for 1/4 i.e. 0.25W. If you need a high-power resistor for your project then Borjack has covered your back. They also make the same resistor kit but with a 1/2 or 0.5W rating.
You may notice that when the rating goes up the thickness of the individual also increases. This is because now we need extra materials in the resistor to compensate for the high power requirements.
This 0.5W kit comes with 1000 pieces and 25 different resistor values. Now, to know about this kit. Here is the link, BOJACK 0.5W Resistor kit (Amazon link), which you can follow for your own further research.
Recommended Best Resistor Kit for complete beginners
The above best resistor kits are all good and worthy investments. My personal recommendation is if you are a complete beginner to electronics then go with high power ratings and reasonable pieces.
I am saying go with a high power rating because at earlier stages in electronics, you really can not understand what amount of current is flowing, or what are the real voltages. In these situations, a high power-rating will save you time and you will enjoy your success in electronics.
And I am sure as you will invest your time in electronics one day you will be able to know what exactly type, value, and rating resistor you want.
Summary
A resistor kit is a fundamental thing that every person into electronics wants in his lab. They are not very expensive, yet people sometimes ignore them and buy resistors for every new project, which is not very economical at all.
In this article, I try to enlist all the important parameters of any best resistor kit and give you some of my recommendations out there in the market.
In summary before buying any kit, just answer the following questions
- What power, voltage, and current ratings do I need
- For what accuracy, and project type, do I need a resistor kit
I hope this article kind of helped you.
Other useful posts:
- Best Oscilloscopes
- Best beginner multimeters: A complete buying guide
- Best Lab Power Supply [How to choose and buy the best]
Thank you and have a good life.
