Are resistors with high tolerance ratings better or worse than those with low tolerance ratings?
depends on the application and what is required
generally good enough for the intended purpose means cheaper, and as others have responded, good enough for one use may not be good enough for another.
If the tolerances you are referring to are the last color band, the resistors with the smaller tolerance value are much better … for example, a tolerance of 1% is preferable to a tolerance of 5% or 10% because it is an indication of accuracy in resistance value ..
which depends on the application. In general, the order of magnitude of the ohmic resistance is larger than the actual value. there are other occasions where the precise value is crucial. Tolerance resistors of 20% are cheaper to manufacture. Thus, in an application where the real value is not so important, there is a demand for a less expensive component. when a tolerance of 5% is required, consumers are willing to pay more.
There are no wider or more accurate resistances. for the most part, the 20% and 10% resistances that were common when I started in electronics have all disappeared.
the lower the number, the more accurate they are, but saying better or worse is meaningless. tolerance depends on the design. but using 0.1% resistance is not preferable when 5% will do. it costs more.
The most common tolerances are now 2% and 1%. the parts are much more precise in precision almost without expenses. the common resistances are a fraction of a hundred.
I have in my dark party collection a resistance of 1,000,000 megohms at 3%. kilogigohm
everything depends on what you are trying to accomplish and how much you are willing to pay …
for a simple logical resistance, a range of 1k to 100k would probably work fine, so 10k 20% do. (if you could find 20%).
for a voltage divider in adc, 10k 1% is a good choice, that is to say that the accuracy of 1% is usually sufficient.
for a reference resistor to compare a class of 100 ohms, I chose a resistance of 100 ohms to 0.01% to avoid having to calibrate.
you must also choose the power you want as well as the tempco, etc.
you start with what you want to accomplish, then select the part that does the work.
high tolerance means a higher percentage of manufacturing error in the resistance value and a low tolerance means a small percentage of error. significantly lower tolerance therefore means better accuracy. but if it’s true, are high-tolerance resistors simply low quality resistors?
Nope
in engineering or any other discipline that allows you to build things, there is a point where good enough is good enough. Many energy applications do not need the same value as in your design. In some applications, some tolerance is required to account for fluctuations in environmental parameters.
There is actually a very specific type of resistance used for very high accuracy applications and calibrations. they certainly cost a lot more than your average tolerance resistances of 5%. there comes a point where too many good things like precision go against the intuitive sense for robust cost and design.
The question of improvement or aggravation depends on the application for which you use it and, to a lesser extent, but nevertheless of importance: the cost. vs performance.
