How to use a Piezo Vibration Sensor with Arduino

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Introduction

In this tutorial we will show you how to use the Piezo Vibration Sensor with the Arduino UNO board. This vibration sensor loaded by a mass to offer high sensitivity at low frequencies. Useful for detecting vibration and ‘tap’ inputs from a user. Can also be used for impact sensing or a flexible switch.

So let's see how it works!

What you will need - Hardware

For this tutorial you will need:

The Circuit

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

+ pin to Arduino A0 Pin
- pin to Arduino GND
1MΩ resistor between them

The code

const int PIEZO_PIN = A0; // Piezo output

void setup() 
{
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() 
{
  // Read Piezo ADC value in, and convert it to a voltage
  int piezoADC = analogRead(PIEZO_PIN);
  float piezoV = piezoADC / 1023.0 * 5.0;
  Serial.println(piezoV); // Print the voltage.
  delay(250);
}