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Weight sensor research

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b-en edited this page Oct 7, 2013 · 1 revision

Flex & Force sensors at Sparkfun

Flexiforce sensors

Available in:

Can be calibrated. Datasheet says +- 3% error Analog output.

Load sensor

  • Load Sensor - 50kg - $9.95 (on backorder until Oct 16, 2013) Supposedly the same that would be found in a bathroom scale. A video on how to set up the sensor is shown here. Analog output.

Cheaper sensors

A number of cheaper options exist

Have the disclaimer: "These sensors are simple to set up and great for sensing pressure, but they aren't incredibly accurate. Use them to sense if it's being squeezed, but you may not want to use it as a scale."

Hacking a Wal-Mart scale

This has been done before, here are two sources I found on the subject

Wii Balance board

Being as the Wii Balance board is Bluetooth enabled we could potentially skip all the analog output sensors. The Wii board has 4 sensors which is uses to interpolate the player's position on the board. We could either use a board per item we want to weigh (easiest, most expensive) or try to disassemble the board and harness each of these sensors individually (potential for catastrophic failure) since we don't need to calculate the position on the board.

Here is a tutorial explaining how to Hook up a Wii Balance board to Linux. And the data format of the Wii Balance board sensors.

Price from eBay: $10 each plus $24 shipping (yikes) link.

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