This works well for me. I am using to measure the amount of vacuum when doing vacuum bagging and use that to control the vacuum pump so that it stays in the correct range. More details at https://github.com/fluffy/vacuumCtrl

At the risk (which I accept frequently ;o} ) of sounding picky:
1) "Force" and "pressure" are not the same thing, but the terms appear to be used interchangeably in the description. It would be helpful to know which this senses. If one exerts 10 newtons of force on a 1 cm X 1 cm area of this sensor, that's four times the pressure of the same 10 newtons on a 2 cm X 2 cm area, but the same force. How, if at all, does the sensor respond differently to the two loads?
2) Speaking of "newtons", a "newton" is a unit of force. Neither a "gram" nor a "kilogram" is; they are units of mass.
3) Lastly, unless plane geometry has been changed radically in the ~four decades since I studied it, there's no such thing as a "square, 1.75x1.5" anything.
Eric

Neat! a Jedi Sensor!

Could this be insulated and used as a water pressure sensor (dividing the force by the area)?

The description says that the FSR can sense force up to 10kgs. What would happen if it had more than that, say, human weight? :) Would it just max out or is there risk of damage?

Hey if the product is available again?

Are these waterproof? I'm thinking this might be a nice solution to a rain sensor

would like to use 20 of these to line the floor and seats of my car to make some form of security, given that when armed, if someone gets in to either take my car or something in my car, they'll have to get inside, and when they do, one is pressed and sets off the alarm. Combined with window shatter sensors and pressure switches, if they pick the lock and open the door, alarm. If they smash the window, alarm.

I will be firing a soda can at a shield at about 100psi. And i would like to measure the force the soda can hits the shield with. should i go with a accelerometer or would a impact sensor suits my needs best? i was also considering mounting a sensor on top of the shield instead to just measured the vibration of the shield.

I think the Bildr tutorial has it's description a little backwards. The technique it shows is correct but it description of WHY is wrong...I think. They say:

The amount of that 5V that each part gets is proportional to its resistance. So if the the FSR and the resistor have the same resistance, the 5V is split evenly (2.5V) to each part. (analog reading of 512)

But if the FSR is pressed on pretty hard, reading only 1K of resistance, the 10K resistor is going to soak up 10 times as much of that 5V. So the FSR would only get .45V. (analog reading of 92)

And if something is barely pressing on it, the FSR may be 40K of resistance, so the FSR will soak up 4 times as much of that 5V as the 10K resistor. So the FSR would get 4V. (analog reading of 819)

In the last two paragraphs they suggest that the voltage reading goes down the greater you press on the FS. That hasn't been my experience. Am I missing something?

This may be a better tutorial.

I would like to use the FSR in a mailbox so when an envelope is placed on top of the sensor it will trigger. Would a standard, around 1 oz., piece of mail work or it is not that sensitive? Any other sensor suggestions? Light sensors would not be an option because the back area is always lit.

Hello, since I'm new to this would this be better for sensing impact or this one: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9196

I want to make something that can detect the force and magnitude of an impact (for example, if I were to hit it with my fist) and was wondering whether this product or the other one would be a better option. Thanks in advance.

Is there a maximum pressure/weight for these? I couldn't find anything in the documentation. I don't want to measure weight, just identify if it is present which an FSR seems ideal for. What I want is a pressure sensor that detects if someone is standing on a metal plate.

It might be of interest to users that it is the conductance of these sensors that is linearly proportional to pressure, not their resistance. When you use them in a simple voltage divider circuit the voltage output will be highly non-linear, i.e. a 1/x curve. For a linear voltage output proportional to pressure you need to drive it with a constant-current source. The simplest way is to connect the FSR between a fixed reference voltage and the input of an op-amp inverter (with no other resistance in series with the FSR). The feedback resistance and the value of the reference voltage will determine the output range. Of course, the output will be inverted and you need to set up the opamp's power supply properly.

Wish there was a better solution for mounting this. Mine busted pretty easily while trying to bend the tail.

This sensor limit is 10kg(9,8N), the same as the 0.5" one (SEN-09375), why does this one have the same limit even though it has 6 times the area?

I'm having trouble getting this sensor to register small touches. It registers if I squeeze the entire surface with a flat object, but not if I just squeeze a part of it with two fingers.

It basically works if I squeeze all of the surface, but it does not register if I only squeeze a small point on the surface really hard.

I'm using a 10k resistor. Should I drop that down? I'm using a pull down wiring setup as described in the first section of the guide.

Thoughts??

Curious if once calibrated at zero, 1/3,2/3 and full scale, do these devices hold as far as remaining consistent?

With low linearity, what was the application these were designed for?

Cioara from Betclic

These sensors look like the ones that are used in the Native Instruments maschine. Their version of the pads have a square hole in the middle for the leds and are working slightly different i think. But maybe it is a good idea if sparkfun (if it is possible) add similar square pads with a hole for leds?

here is a link to the NI Maschine teardown.

How do you solder onto these things? Is there another way to make connection with them?

hi all, how do you cover / mount this in your project usually? i mean, is it possible to put a plastic film on top of it (or something similar) ?

All your pressure/force sensors seem to be not "incredibly accurate".
I'm looking for a sensor that can register weights in the 50-300 grain range with an accuracy and repeatability of no less than 2 grains/10%.
That's what I would call "moderately accurate"... but I don't see any of those mentioned.
Did I just miss them? Or do you not stock them?

is this sensor flexible. Can it be bent?

Would this sensor register light "hits" such as hand drumming? Is the sensor flexible? Are there smaller versions? Would you recommend a different sensor if the project requires the sensor to register light "hits" with the fingers? Even a "forceful touch" should register (and later produce a sound).
Thanks in advance for your help!

Here is a video of how we used with an indian make of the arduino ! Also provided is the connection detail and the code.
http://tenettech.com/comet/?page_id=191

Or try a piece of conductive foam between two pieces of copper clad pcboard stock.
But this is much cleaner.

These work very well. I was able to hook them up to an Arduino with a simple voltage divider circuit (as suggested by the FSR integration guide), but I did not have to use an amplifier.
I wrote a simple script to send the pressure data via serial from the Arduino, and then used it in a Panda3D Python application.
They would probably not work for extremely accurate measurements, but I am able to control the pressure in the application with my fingertips quite well for my purposes.