ExactBench · Engineering calculators

Voltage Divider Calculator

Resistive divider · E-series

Divider

Output voltage

3.837
V
816 µA through the divider · ratio 0.3197

Schematic

RESISTIVE DIVIDER12.00 V in3.837 VoutR1 10.0 kΩR2 4.70 kΩ
Divider current816 µA
Output impedance3.20 kΩ
Vout with load applied3.825 V
Loading error-0.32 %
Power in R16.66 mW
Power in R23.13 mW
Nearest E24 (5 %)10.0 kΩ / 4.70 kΩ → 3.837 V (+0.00 %)
How this is calculated. Vout = Vin · R2 / (R1 + R2), and the current through both resistors is Vin / (R1 + R2). Two things catch people out. First, the divider is not a voltage source: its output impedance is R1 ∥ R2, so anything you connect draws current through R1 and pulls the output down. The loading error above shows exactly how much for the input resistance you entered — a 10 kΩ/4.7 kΩ divider into a 1 MΩ ADC input is fine, the same divider into a 10 kΩ input is not. Second, a divider is a poor way to power anything: it burns current continuously, and the output moves with the load. Use it for sensing, not supply.
The load is shifting the output by more than 1 %. Lower both resistors to stiffen the divider, or buffer the output with an op-amp follower.