Diode colour coding

[Mark Aitchison]

I sometimes see (through-hole) diodes with colour coded bars instead of
type numbers printed on; there obviously aren't enough lines to give a
full part number (and I'm not sure if I have 812 or 218 anyway). I
guess several different types of diodes (perhaps in different cases/made
by different companies) might have the same colours because of the
limited space for lines. How do I find out the part number of such
diodes? Is there a website??

Thanks,
Mark A

 

[Peter Bennett]

I sometimes see (through-hole) diodes with colour coded bars instead of
type numbers printed on; there obviously aren't enough lines to give a
full part number (and I'm not sure if I have 812 or 218 anyway). I
guess several different types of diodes (perhaps in different cases/made
by different companies) might have the same colours because of the
limited space for lines. How do I find out the part number of such
diodes? Is there a website??

Thanks,
Mark A

I think that on any colour-coded diodes I have seen, the colour bands
give the numeric part of the diode number. For example, a 1N914 would
be marked white, brown, yellow (914).


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Peter Bennett, VE7CEI Vancouver BC, Canada
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[Reinhard Zwirner]

I sometimes see (through-hole) diodes with colour coded bars instead of
type numbers printed on; there obviously aren't enough lines to give a
full part number (and I'm not sure if I have 812 or 218 anyway). I
guess several different types of diodes (perhaps in different cases/made
by different companies) might have the same colours because of the
limited space for lines. How do I find out the part number of such
diodes? Is there a website??

As to my experience the "most significant bar/ring" is wider than the
other bars/rings. E.g. a (1N)4448 diode would be marked as follows:
yellow (wide) / yellow (small) / yellow (small) / grey (small). At the
same time the wide bar/ring marks the cathode pin.

HTH

Reinhard

 

[Lionel]

I sometimes see (through-hole) diodes with colour coded bars instead of
type numbers printed on; there obviously aren't enough lines to give a
full part number (and I'm not sure if I have 812 or 218 anyway). I
guess several different types of diodes (perhaps in different cases/made
by different companies) might have the same colours because of the
limited space for lines. How do I find out the part number of such
diodes? Is there a website??

Read the stripes the same way you'd read resistors, then stick '1N' on
the front. For example, yellow, brown, yellow, grey (4148) is a
1N4148.