Need Help On Resistor
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 253
Likes: 5
From: West Palm Beach, Florida
GLE53 Coupe
Need Help On Resistor
Hello,
I have this resistor in the wire, but does not know much about resistor and function. If 12Volts car battery go in - resistor - what come out ?? volts?? watt???
Thanks in advance
Steve
I have this resistor in the wire, but does not know much about resistor and function. If 12Volts car battery go in - resistor - what come out ?? volts?? watt???
Thanks in advance
Steve
Administrator
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 15,770
Likes: 37
From: www.Traben-Trarbach.de
MPG+ ROLFCOPTER
Re: Need Help On Resistor
Originally posted by nguyensteve
Hello,
I have this resistor in the wire, but does not know much about resistor and function. If 12Volts car battery go in - resistor - what come out ?? volts?? watt???
Thanks in advance
Steve
Hello,
I have this resistor in the wire, but does not know much about resistor and function. If 12Volts car battery go in - resistor - what come out ?? volts?? watt???
Thanks in advance
Steve
If it just goes to ground then the resistor will get warm and after a while will drain your battery or it will fail; that depends on the value and rating of the resistor.
If it is hooked in with another resistive device it will act as a voltage devider.
Either way, nothing will come out of it. It is a passive device.
BTW, you measure volts across something and watts is power. In this case voltage is related to power this way: Watts = Voltage squared over Resistance.
Last edited by amdeutsch; Apr 12, 2003 at 07:00 PM.
Administrator
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 15,770
Likes: 37
From: www.Traben-Trarbach.de
MPG+ ROLFCOPTER
Originally posted by Dema
So you get watts in most of connections.
So you get watts in most of connections.
For example the city lights and the low beams on the MB C-class. If both had the same connections here is what would happen:
1) City lights = 5 W and battery = 12 VDC => current = .417 A
2) Low beam = 55 W and battery = 12 VDC => current = 4.58 A
Therefore if the contacts in the connection were rated for the city lights the plugged in low beams would stress them and they would fail but not vice versa. The reason here is the higher current draw.
Now lets assume that the current draw stays the same and the voltage varies from 12 VDC to 132 VDC on the 55 W rated item. The wattage hasn't changed but the contacts are able to handle this distribution a lot better.
