I want to make 4 load cells each of which can weigh up to 4 tonnes (so therefore I’m thinking of increasing capacity to 5t so as never to overload.
These will be used to weigh the 4 corners of a house module. When we need to weigh the module, we will place these temporarily between a jack and the floor structure. Each module should weigh no more than 14 tonnes, therefore the 4 tonne capacity …
All I need is a local handheld display at each loadcell advising the weight at that point. The accuracy needs to be about 2%.
I’m thinking of using Pancake Style load cells, but would need to make the electronics to make them work and display the weight. I was thinking Arduino, but would be happy to take advice.
We have some load cells but they only go up to about 200kg:
If you want to measure higher weights safely you need to build an enclosure that only partially loads the cells and calculate the weight. The accuracy is entirely dependant on the type of load cell that you choose, and if you are creating a scale like this from load cells you should be able to read their output with an Arduino and calculate the total weight or the weight at each point pretty easily. Check out this tutorial on using analog sensors with Arduino, it should get you started in the direction that you will need to go to get this project off the ground!
