I'm following this guide http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2 ... 807,00.asp to build the controller, but accidentally got 1/8 watt resistors. Is this still fine? The whole system is running on a regulated 5 volts.

link not working, unless they are on a direct power line, pulling more than a few amps it should be fine. What wattage where they supposed to be ?

Fixed that for ya.

They were supposed to be 1/4 watt resistors. 1/8 watt is probably fine. What I recommend doing is building it with the 1/8 watt resistors, then try it out. If the resistors start getting hot, you probably need to use 1/4 watt resistors. Otherwise, you'll be fine.

My mathy reasoning behind saying it's probably fine:


Cool guide by the way, I bookmarked it in case I decide to make a SNESp.

back in the days when i used to do model rocketry i used 1/8 w resistors to ignite the motors, and i am sure you can pull at least 2 amps through them before them catching fire and easily half an amp safely. Mind you im not sure using them as igniters is the best experience to draw on, any ways thanks for the correction .

I'm sure you can draw a lot more than 1/8 watt through an 1/8 watt resistor before it catches fire. Typically manufacturers rate these wattages so that the resistor won't heat up much (if at all) when pulling its rated wattage. You can certainly pull more than the rated capacity through a resistor, I have many times. Presumably if you push through more than the resistor's rated capacity the resistor will wear out faster. (But this is similar to the argument about overclocking: supposedly overclocking will reduce the life of your processor; however, most people aren't going to care because they'll upgrade their computer before it would ever matter.)

Also, it definitely depends on the resistance value of the resistor. If you plug a 100 ohm resistor into the formula I had before, it can draw up to 35 mA according to the official spec.

oops, over looked the resistance aspect, of the resistor .