How to determine whether a sensor will work with Arduino

Greetings:

I am interested in measuring / monitoring weight -- a rather large amount of weight, which will require an S-style load sensor. Off the shelf electronic hanging scales are quite expensive, so I am hoping to construct my own. So, I am wondering if anybody could help me figure out, or perhaps point me to the right place, that could help me determine whether a given sensor would work with the Arduino. This is the sensor I have in mind:

https://umich.box.com/s/spqgmo40ojoj1mwqre0d

Anything that I could or should be looking at? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Best,
Brian

To use that load cell you will need an amplifier. It will output 20mV at full scale load with 10V excitation. There are chips made that provide excitation, amplification, and digitize the signal from the load cell. I have no experience with them, but they are mentioned frequently on this forum so a search should turn up some info. Another option is to build or buy an instrumentation amplifier and use the Arduino, analog input to digitize and supply excitation..

groundfungus:

Thanks so much for the reply -- very helpful. I am following up on your recommendations, and it certainly makes sense!

Best,
Brian