Resistors

Electrical resistors are an important part of just about any electrical circuit board schematic one can think of. They are generally quite numerous in just about all electronic products. All of them are not made equal, however. For a high-quality design, one should pick high quality components, and although some may overlook quality for pricing, all the parts should be up to specification with whatever project it is going into.

One thing to look at is tolerance to actual resistance specification of resistors. If the manufacturer states a 5% tolerance to the ohm spec, it really needs to be at or below that number. Another thing to check is how much voltage it can handle. This should be listed in the spec sheet for each particular resistor. Depending on whether the design is for a high-power application like a power supply or something much lower, like a calculator, one needs to watch for that. Lead sizing should fit the design. For example, one should not buy a through-hole type when a surface mount design is preferable during the engineering phase. Also, temperature specifications should be looked at to ensure thermal breakdown does not become a problem during peak performance of the resistor. It needs to be able to handle rapid fluctuation in temperatures, as various devices can change temperature quickly in real world applications.

A general quality check should be performed as well by quality assurance personnel on site at the time of delivery to ensure that the parts looks up to par. Just a little glance under a monocle will tell them whether it is well made, and of the correct material. Going by particular brands that are reputable can often be a great first step in quality assurance.

In general, breaking down of these specific parts is uncommon in a well-designed circuit; however, a bad part can make even the best design fail due to inferior parts. High quality parts go a long way toward end user satisfaction, so one should always be sure to pick the right parts from the start whenever possible to avoid frustration and loss of company dollars.