1/2 watt V 0.4 watt resistors - is this wrong?

[Bolty_Guitars]

I've just had delivery of some resistors and I'm not quite sure I've gotten the right things that I ordered.

In the following image are some 1/2 watt metal film resistors (left)  next to what came today which were supposed to be 0.4 watt metal film. Do they look too small to you guys too? The label on the wrapper says 0.4 watt but they look like 1/8 watt to me.

[antonis]

Actually, resistors on left are 600mW..

Yes, resistors on right are 400mW..

Don't compare their sizes with respective resistors of carbon composition.. 

[Bolty_Guitars]

Ok thanks for clearing that up. I was concerned about using them in place of the 1/4 watt carbon films I usually use but my mind is at ease now.

[blackieNYC]

I like the little guys but they sure can give you trouble on the breadboard.

[PRR]

They keep making resistors out of tougher stuff, so they can run hotter. This allows higher Watt rating in free air yet with smaller body size. It does NOT significantly increase how many Watts you can stuff in a small box. This is more about air-space than body size.

But--

> in place of the 1/4 watt carbon films

And how many of those 1/4 Watt parts run hot? In a typical pedal, none. Dissipations tend to run 0.050W down to 0.001W. If you could really get "right size" resistors for such power levels, you could not see them.

[Bolty_Guitars]

Well, I've put the circuit together on veroboard this morning so will be testing it later!

[antonis]

I like the little guys but they sure can give you trouble on the breadboard.

They can also give you extra troubles like colour code reading in inaccessible places, big clearance between their legs and PCB pad holes..
(but they have no problem in parallel pair soldering..)

Generally, I avoid to stock them in often used values - most of them are drawer space savers just to compile the gap between E12 & E24 series values..