Pull-up Resistors

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Calculating a Pull-up Resistor Value

schematic pull-up

Let's say you want to limit the current to approximately 1mA when the button is pressed in the circuit above, where Vcc = 5V. What resistor value should you use?

It is easy to show how to calculate the pull-up resistor using Ohm's Law:

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Referring to the schematic above, Ohm's Law now is:

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Rearrange the above equation with some simple algebra to solve for the resistor:

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Remember to convert all of your units into volts, amps and Ohms before calculating (e.g. 1mA = 0.001 Amps). The solution is to use a 5kΩ resistor.