As an old dummy, I would go to Goodwill or a junkyard and get a good 
looking old radio amplifier to salvage. IIRC, the volume control is a 
reasonable wattage wire wound variable resistor. It would also give you 
a box.

The landfills are getting full of valuable, re-usable electronic components.

Wayne Johnson wrote:
> Just remember, 50% of the people are under average intelligence.
>
> If you really want to make a fancy battery tester, create one with a
> microprocessor that runs the battery through various load levels, then
> displays the resulting voltage as a graph on an LCD display.
>
> ---
> Wayne Johnson,             | There are two kinds of people: Those
>                            | who say to God, "Thy will be done,"
>                            | and those to whom God says, "All right,
>                            | then, have it your way." --C.S. Lewis
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Mike Miller <mbmiller+l at gmail.com>
> *To:* TCLUG Mailing List <tclug-list at mn-linux.org>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 15, 2019 11:01 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [tclug-list] [OT] where to get a 100-ohm resistor?
>
> This is really helpful.  It answered a bunch of questions I had but hadn't
> asked.  People were commenting on that YouTube battery-testing video that
> a 100-ohm resister wouldn't be right for a D battery, but I guess it also
> wouldn't be right for a 9-volt.
>
> Looking at more info out there on the web -- it's a problem for me that a
> lot of people don't seem to know what they are doing, but they are still
> there, teaching the world.  ;-)
>
> Thanks again, Doug.
>
> Mike
>
>
> On Sun, 12 May 2019, Doug Reed wrote:
>
>> Yes, the Ax-Man stores are the place to look if you don't want to ask
>> someone to mail it to you. I believe there are 3 or 4 stores around
>> town. The only stores I am familiar with are in St Paul and Fridley, but
>> I thought there was one more in Bloomington.
>>
>> The color code for 100 ohms is brown-black-brown. But 100 ohms is too
>> low for testing a 9V battery. 100 ohms is fine for testing 1.5 volt
>> batteries at about 15 milliamp current load which is within the
>> capability of all AAA or larger batteries.
>>
>> But 100 ohms will attempt to draw about 90 milliamps from a 9V battery.
>> Most 9V batteries are rated for 50 milliamps maximum load. Your 100 ohm
>> resistor will tend to suck them down so they all fail your test. For a
>> similar test effect, you should use a 1000 ohm resistor, perhaps even
>> higher, up to 3000 to 5000 ohms so the load is proportional to the
>> battery capability.
>>
>> So when you are looking for the resistor at Ax-Man Surplus, the 100 ohm
>> resistor should have Brown as the first band, black or brown or red for
>> the second band, and Brown again for the third band. The bands are
>> counted with the first band closest to one end.
>>
>> The 1000 ohm resistor would have the third band colored Red instead of
>> brown. Since we don't care exactly what the value is between 1000 and
>> 5000 ohms, the first band can be any of Brown or Red or Orange, or
>> Yellow, and we don't care at all about the second band color.
>>
>> And I suggest that you look for a resistor that handles one-half watt
>> dissipation or more. Your batteries should never approach that but the
>> larger physical sizes are usually less likely to break from lots of
>> handling. A half watt resistor is physically about 1/8" diameter and
>> 1/2" long with leads about 1.5" on each end.
>>
>> The size you pick isn't really critical, it is really just for ease of
>> handling. You will probably find multiple examples to choose from, I
>> just suggest you don't choose the smallest size you find. Any resistor
>> larger than 1/2 watt will also work of course, if that is what you find
>> or want. The much larger watt values usually have the resistor value
>> simply printed on the side.
>>
>> And of course buy more than one of each for when you break or loose one.
>> :-)
>>
>> Good luck. If my description isn't enough to work from, you can easily
>> find web pages that explain the resistor color code. And you can always
>> bring your voltmeter to the store and use it to check the resistor value
>> before you buy. Or buy a handful of different values that have brown or
>> red on the third band and check them at home. No matter what you choose
>> to do, the parts will probably cost less than the gas to get you to the
>> store.
>>
>> Doug Reed.
>> North St Paul.
>>
>> --
>> Scientists say the world is made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons.
>> They forgot to mention MORONS.
>>
>> She had buried three husbands and at least two of them had already
> been dead.
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