Reusing 40 year old resistors???

[antoniosolo]

Can I and/or should I reuse these old resistors? Not against changing them out, just would like to keep them if they are still functional...will it be magical or mediocre....

[antoniosolo]

Oh well, Geoff says cut it off! : ( at least it looked vintage...

[fredv]

Originally Posted by antoniosolo

Can I and/or should I reuse these old resistors? Not against changing them out, just would like to keep them if they are still functional...will it be magical or mediocre....

If they have not changed values, then why not. Just grab a ohm meter and check them before tossing them in your bin. I still have some from the 1960s, and they are useful if an old piece of equipment needs a repair.

[Bo Hansén]

Antoniosolo,

This brand/type of old UK resistors will sometime rise in value when I measure them to day, especially the high value resistors.

So this low value 620 ohm resistor, as a transformer termination, is maybe still ok for this work ??

--Bo

[maxk]

As far as i understand, resistors should last a long time... Check the values with an ohm meter as said before. If you are less tech savvy, find a chart to figure out what the colored stripes mean. For audio uses the values dont have to be perfect, just close to what you intend to use them for. If you are scrapping parts from old equipment, i think you can do a fairly good visual assessment on most components. If its brown and scorched dont trust it, sorry to point out the obvious. Capacitors on the other hand only last a few decades. My only knowledge comes from taking apart/trying to fix old tube amps, but usually the resistors are fine, the capacitors have gross looking bubbles on them and shouldn't be used. Hope that helped.

[antoniosolo]

Thanks for all of the advice, I don't get to use it on this one but maybe somewhere else.....

[johnnyc]

i have some old ohmite carbon film resistor kits in my lab, not really sure the vintage probably early 80s. most of them seemed fine but one i tried to use and when i bent the leads it literally crumbled apart. i wouldn't go around replacing resistors in gear that works, but for a new build i'ld say buy some fresh stock as they are pretty inexpensive for quality ones.

[JohnRoberts]

I first loaded my lab parts bins back in the 70's and the resistors still look brand new. I am suspicious of my electrolytic caps from back around the same time, but the resistors should be OK.

In circuit it depends on how they are used and abused.

JR

[Jim Williams]

Resistors are cheap! Old resistors have linearity problems. Get some Vishay/Dale CMF60's and call it a day. If you have the $$$, Vishay S-102's are very good.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades