GC6DDCH Hobby Series - Resistors (Multi-cache) in Ontario, Canada created by Hydroid & the Mutts

This cache has been archived.

Hydroid: Due to the passing of one of my four legged partners, and advancing age of my remaining fur baby, and the constant threat of ticks - which I want NO part of, I'm limiting my caching activities to the cold weather months. It's not fair to ignore caches throughout the rest of the year, so any of my caches that require maintenence before then will be archived. THIS cache now falls into that category. To those that have logged a DNF, please feel free to log your find on the same day that you logged your DNF.

Regards, Hydroid and the mutt :-)

As this cache is being archived,, but some of the rest of the series - including the FINAL - are still active, the information you would have gleened had the cache been found is:

IR3 = 14.14 mA

GC6DDCH ▼

A cache by Hydroid & the Mutts Message this owner

Hidden : 3/17/2016

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

One of my earliest memories is of playing with batteries and light bulbs hooked up with short pieces of bell wire held in place with scotch tape, plasticine - whatever was available. This sparked a great interest in most things electrical over the years. It was no accident that when I was 18, I applied for, and got, a job with Ontario Hydro (Now OPG). My love of things electrical grew into a lifelong hobby and love of electronics. This series will be a small exposure to that hobby and will deal with the basics: Resistance, Current, Voltage and Power.

This is the first part of a seven part series (6 caches plus a FINAL). Each part will build on the preceding part, so while not impossible to do out of sequence if you have the knowledge, it is suggested that you do the caches in order:

1 - GC6DDCH - Resistors (This listing)
2 - GC6DKK8 - Series & Parallel
3 - GC6DR23 - Ohm's Law
4 - GC6DR2X - Magic Smoke
5 - GC6DR3G - Breadboards
6 - GC6EG5M - PCBs
7 - GC6DDDW - FINAL

Note: Each of parts 1 through 6 contain bonus information that's written on the top of the log. If you plan on doing the FINAL, please record this information as it will be required.

The Resistor:

One of the most basic components in electronics is the resistor. They are used in electrical circuits to reduce or limit current flow. Their values are expressed in units called ohms with the symbol ‎Ω. The higher the value, the more they impede the flow of current. Physically, there are many styles of resistors. For the purpose of this cache, we will be dealing with the two lead axial variety which looks like this:

This is a 'Four Band' resistor because it has four coloured bands painted to its body: Orange, Blue, Brown and Gold. These colours represent the value and the tolerance of the resistor. I'm old enough that I learned a mnemonic to remember what the colours stood for that was, well, disturbing by todays standards and repeating it here would I'm sure be frowned upon. If your really curious, google 'resistor mnemonic' and you will come across it - You've been warned...

A better, and more politically correct way to decipher the colour codes is with a handy chart like this:

which covers five and six band resistors as well. So, in our original resistor's case, the value is 3 for orange, 6 for blue, a multiplier of X10 for brown, and a tolerance of 5% for gold. Thus our resistor has a value of 360Ω and a tolerance of 5%. Just for interest's sake, a tolerance of 5%, which is 18Ω (360Ω X 0.05), means the manufacturer guarantees that the value of this resistor falls between 342Ω and 378Ω (360Ω +/- 18Ω). For our purposes, we will assume that regardless of the indicated tolerance, our resistors are 100% accurate. Note also that there is no colour Gold or Silver in the 1st digit list, so if you have it oriented with Gold or Silver as the first colour (left to right), flip it around 180°...

For values of 1,000Ω and up, letters are used to denote thousands, or millions of ohms. Just like you learned in school, the letter k for kilo, means 1,000 and the letter M for Mega, means 1,000,000. So, a resistor that has a value of 47,000Ω is said to be 47kΩ - where the k signifies thousands. Likewise, a resistor with a value of 1,200,000Ω is said to be 1.2MΩ. You can also see it written as 1M2Ω, where the M takes the place of the decimal point. So if you saw 4k7Ω, that would be 4.7kΩ or 4,700Ω...

Some Practice:

You will be required to identify the values of two 4 band resistors to complete this cache. So here are a few examples to test your skills and allow some practice. Identify the following resistors - and remember, regardless of the tolerance shown, they are always 100% accurate (Answers are at the end of the listing):

R1 R2 R3

In case the photos are not clear enough, the colours, as shown from left to right, for each resistor are:

R1 = Brown, Grey, Red, Silver
R2 = Blue, Green, Black, Gold
R3 = Gold, Brown, Violet, Yellow

If you want to try a few more, here are some additional examples - again, they are all four band versions - and I'll just list the colours:

R4 = Red, Red, Gold, Gold
R5 = Orange, White, Orange, Gold
R6 = Orange, Orange, Brown, Silver
R7 = Silver, Red, Black, Brown

The Cache:

At the posted coordinates, you will find a micro which contains two four band resistors mounted on a piece of Popsicle stick - one resistor on each side. Please take care NOT to lose the assembly and ensure it is returned to the container after you are finished with it. You need to identify the values of each resistor. If you don't have a smart phone with you to view the identification chart above, you might want to print out a copy to take with you. Also, these suckers can be quite small so if your eyes aren't great - like mine - reading glasses would be an asset. If you have your phone with you then I have found that my smart phone's magnify mode does a nice job of enlarging these to make it easier to see the bands. Alternately, you could take a photo of the resistor and then enlarge it to see it better. As an assist here, the physically smaller resistor has three different colours comprising its bands whereas the physically larger one has four different colours. The larger of the two resistors also has the higher value...

Once you've determined the values of the two resistors, divide each value by 1000. To get the FINAL coordinates, add the higher value to the North coordinates, and subtract the lower value from the West coordinates of these meaningless coordinates:

N44 02.144 W079 03.520

Congratulations to TEAM MYSTERY INC. on the FTF!

Notes:
- Please bring your own pen or pencil for the log.
- If you haven't completed it yet, there is also a cache by Hooligansx2 down this road: Stuck in the Middle
- This road, depending on the season, can be icy, deep in snow or quite muddy - use caution.

Answers to Practice Resistors:
R1 = 1800Ω, or 1.8kΩ or 1k8Ω - 10%
R2 = 65Ω - 5%
R3 = 470Ω - 5% - You did remember to rotate it 180°, right...
R4 = 2.2Ω - 5%
R5 = 39,000Ω or 39KΩ - 5%
R6 = 330Ω - 10%
R7 = 1,000Ω or 1KΩ - 10% - Again, did you rotate it?

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Cbfgrq (Erqverpg): Svyz pna fvmr, nobhg purfg uvtu... Svany: Ynetre guna n svyz pna, nobhg urnq uvtu...

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)