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Introduction 

In this tutorial you will learn how to use an FSR - Force Sensitive Resistor with Arduino to fade an LED. This sensor is a variable resistor just like a photocell or flex sensor. The resistance changes by applying pressure on it.

Let's get started!

What you will need - Hardware

The Circuit
The connections are pretty easy, see the image above with the breadboard circuit schematic.

The code

How it works:
  • Read analog value from flex sensor 
    :: value=analogRead(sensorPin);
  • Map analog values 0-1023 to PWM values 0-255 
    :: value = map(value, 0, 1023, 0, 255);
  • Send pwm value to led 
    :: analogWrite(ledPin, value);
 
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/* How to use a Force sensitive resistor to fade an LED with Arduino
   More info: http://www.ardumotive.com/how-to-use-a-force-sensitive-resistor-en.html 
   Dev: Michalis Vasilakis // Date: 22/9/2015 // www.ardumotive.com  */
   

//Constants:
const int ledPin = 3;     //pin 3 has PWM funtion
const int sensorPin = A0; //pin A0 to read analog input

//Variables:
int value; //save analog value

void setup(){
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);  //Set pin 3 as 'output' 
  Serial.begin(9600);       //Begin serial communication
}

void loop(){
  value = analogRead(sensorPin);       //Read and save analog value from potentiometer
  Serial.println(value);               //Print value
  value = map(value, 0, 1023, 0, 255); //Map value 0-1023 to 0-255 (PWM)
  analogWrite(ledPin, value);          //Send PWM value to led
  delay(100);                          //Small delay
}
Download the code from here and open it with Arduino IDE. Open the serial monitor from tools menu of Arduino IDE to test it.
forcesensor_tutorial.zip
File Size: 0 kb
File Type: zip
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Well done!

You have successfully completed one more Arduino "How to" tutorial and you learned how to use a Force Sensitive Resistor with Arduino.

I hope you liked this, let me know in the comments.

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