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This is an outline for testing the load cell taken out of the scale at CIC.

A load cell is basically a device that changes its resistance under load

The bathrooms scale at CIC has four similar devices, and one has become detached from the controller board.
The cable for that one is a flat ribbon with gold ends.

Measuring

Can the students use a meter to:

• Measure the resistance of each wire pair to determine which of the gold wires corresponds to the
  • Common red wire
  • Positive strain white wire
  • Negative strain black wire
• Confirm the resistance value from common to positive with no load (is it 1 KOhm?)
• Confirm the resistance value from common to negative with no load (is it 1 KOhm?)
• Measure the resistance value from common to positive with pressure applied (maybe 10 kgm)
• Measure the resistance value from common to negative with pressure applied (maybe 10 kgm)

Please report findings and photos below.

[ your results here ]

Second phase:

Using the load cell, build the following circuit:

Write code so the Arduino can measure the values at the analog pins and how they change as pressure is applied to the load cell.

If this does not produce good results then we will need to add an HX711 load cell amplifier to the circuit and read the pressure data in digital format.