Hello. I am working with a large number of FlexiForce A101 Force sensors for a project for college. I have gotten them to work with the analog pins that are on the Arduino UNO R2. I am trying to get it to work with a GPIO input. How can I go about this? I just want to detect if a force is there or not using just a normal pin. I was told by one of my professors that it could probably be done, but I have tried a few different things and I cannot get it to work. Any advice?
A link to the data sheet always is nice.
From the Tekscan site:
If your application cannot allow an Op Amp Circuit, consult the FlexiForce Integration Guide, or contact a FlexiForce Applications Engineer.
The data sheet suggests an operating voltage of 0.5V, or not more than 1.25V (pulsed), what's not enough to trigger a digital pin. You can spend an opamp for each sensor or possibly use an analog multiplexer with the analog inputs - more complicated if the the sensors require individual calibration.
If the GPIO pins aren't analog, you may have to use an ADC.
What have you tried?
What Arduino are you using?
Presumably by "GPIO" and "normal pin" you mean "digital pin."
What does the Arduino datasheet say about the input voltages needed to guarantee a HIGH and a LOW on a digital pin?
What range of resistances does your sensor produce over the force range of interest?
If you use the simple voltage divider approach, can you choose a resistor that will cause the voltage to transition btwn H and L at the right force range?