Complete electronics beginner here. I'm attempting to build a weighing scale with an Arduino.
I'm attempting to follow this tutorial, with the shield that they use.
I've arranged my load cells on the scale into a Wheatstone Bridge, and I can get some readings just by taking a voltage reading from the two cells marked V+ and V-. The board has terminals that are linked to a INA125p, and the pins should give an amplified reading.
Pin A1:0.96
Pin A2:1.42
Pin A3:5.00
Pin A4:5.00
Pin A5:5.00
Regardless of whether I have the scale wired in or not, I get these readings from the individual pins. The scales seem to be able to take power from the Arduino shield.
The scales that I have are different from the ones in the example. From what I can figure out, the yellow cables that they reference turn their particular scale on when weight is put on it.
I've put the wires where I take the reading into the 2 and 4 terminals on the circuit board that they have (where the tutorial references a differential signal), but again, it makes no change.
unsolder or cut the white wire that is referred to as G3 (Wheatstone bridge mass) on the original printed circuit, extend take it to terminal 1 on the new printed circuit;
unsolder or cut the white wire that is referred to as G2 (Wheatstone
bridge positive) on the original printed circuit, extend take it to
terminal 3 on the new printed circuit;unsolder or cut the white wire that is referred to as G1 and G4 on the
original printed circuit, extend take it to terminal 4 and 2 on the
new printed circuit (differential signal on the Wheatstone bridge)
I've attempted lots of different combinations of cables and terminals on the new circuit, but it appears to make no difference to the readings.
My question is:
Based on the tutorial and the drawing above, am I taking the readings from the correct place? Are there any things I'm obviously doing wrong with the circuit itself?
I apologise for the vague nature of this question, but I am a complete beginner trying to figure this out, and I am struggling to follow the tutorial. I'll try and provide any additional information that you need.
Best Answer
Fixed (to some extent)! Faulty connection between the INA125p and the plint it was sitting in. I refitted it and i'm now getting varied readings with the scales, but that's to be expected with the noise the INA125p generates. Readings are consistent with different weights however, so I think that's a step in the right direction