Hello all,
First off I'm new to Arduino. I took C/C++ in highschool, but have never messed with it since. I have played with BS2 a bit over the last few years, but I'm just getting into Arduino, mainly for cost as well as flexibility of the platform.
I am familiar with electronics/prototyping, and am generally a very quick study, not to mention a current student of "Degree in Google" lol... pretty much nothing you can't find these days.
Ok, so here's what I'm trying to do.
I'm getting into some amateur rocketry, and am starting to design my own rockets, fuel, and motors. I am now getting into my own motors and am working on a test stand so I can record data on my fuel/motor performance.
I have programmed my Arduino with the required Labview code in order to interface via usb.
I am using a Tekscan Flexiforce A201 force sensor. It's a simple force sensitive resistor fyi. Product link can be found here for reference. Embedded Force Sensors | Tekscan
I have linked it into Arduino with one side of the sensor getting +5v, the other side is being read via analog pin 0, and have set up Labview to analog read pin 0. I have also used a 10k ohm resistor in a voltage divider circuit, pulled to ground.
Tekscan claims that the sensor's resistance is linear... but thats not my experience. When I read pin 0 voltage, I get 0-5.0127, and when I try to graph its, it's a curve....
What I need help with is, how in the heck do I get a linear reading off this sensor, so I can either extrapolate or use known weights to calibrate my sensor? I need to be able to get data from my motor tests so I know what kinds of thrust I'm getting, and how long, etc.
Anybody know how to do this??? Do I need a separate constant current source, or something else???
Thanks in advance!