How to Setup Pressure Sensitive Fabric with Velostat and Conductive Fabric

(Checkout Part II: Hooking it up to an Arduino • Pressure Fabric Part 2... ) A complete start-to-finish beginners example using conductive fabric and velostat to create a pressure sensitive resistance circuit.
More at:
www.seanshadmand.com/2017/05/2...
Alligator Leads
www.amazon.com/Elenco-TL-6-Al...
2AA Battery Case w/ Switch and Wires
www.amazon.com/LAMPVPATH-Batt...
Velostat
www.amazon.com/Chibitronics-P...
Conductive Fabric
www.amazon.com/Blocking-RF-Re...

[@user-wl1zl5nv6u]

Nothing is more real the the "Oh my g-d it started smoking" lmao

[@LucianoVeneziano]

Hi! Where i can found Velostat ?

[@mohamadhama6254]

how can i make it to handle multiple people to stand on it? like up to 400kg?

[@jonathangardner6688]

Hi, do you have an alternate link for the conductive fabric? The link delivers a "page not found" webpage

[@seanshadmand]

Jonathan Gardner try this www.adafruit.com/product/1168

[@jonathangardner6688]

awesome, thanks @@seanshadmand

[@tahirrazavirk5946]

What kind of the black paper used which is sandwiched between two conductive fabrics ??

[@jamessantangelo912]

Velostat / Linqstat

[@Amerbkhattab]

How can use this to make a weighting scale!? I would love to understand the concept better

[@seanshadmand]

Amer khattab I don't think it is accurate enough to make a scale. At least not with the parts and setup I showed

[@mustafaeltaher86]

Any suggestions about how to turn that into a weight scale sensor?

[@mustafaeltaher86]

It doesn't have to be a weight scale but at least give larger range of readings depending on the pressure applied

[@seanshadmand]

I imagine if you had a set of objects with a definitive weight, you could put them on the sensore and record the number they produced. Then map those numbers to the weights. Again, I don't if it would be very accurate - but it is a way to try.

[@penguin0123]

Hi everybody. Does the Velostat have a pressure limit? Thank you

[@robertfield7532]

I've been playing around with these sensors for a university project, and I've also wondered the same thing. After some experimentation and reserach, I've concluded the limit is dependent on your reading resolution. (Unless you're loading it with a very extreme mass) How the velostat works, is it's a polymer film impregnated with carbon black. As you squeeze it, the carbon particles get closer together, reducing the resistance. So, unless you can load it with so much mass that the film breaks, and the carbon particles touch each other, it will always have some resistance. WHen I sat on a piece of velostat and took the resistance across it with a multimeter, I still read 700ohms. Hope this helps!

[@imranclickable]

@@robertfield7532 How you setup for it? I kind of confusing to use this method or square force sensitive sensitive sensor for my sitting situation detection. That measure force when sitting and back rest.

[@hayel2015]

good man *_*

[@soulpointcomics]

Hello, I'm making a Dance Dance Revolution pad made of velostat sensors. The up panel is stuck and the others aren't registering when I plug it in. How do I open back up the circuit so I can close the circuit only when I step on it?

[@Stevexupen]

you can use a pull down resistor and supply voltage to it when you step on it

[@Gauthamchessplayer]

Give me a link for velostat

[@seanshadmand]

kzbin.info?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbkVRYS1TSUtfZVE0WU42N3F0bTg4QnRHdmdTQXxBQ3Jtc0tuR0lhR2NibWdnMEhSUTVfeTNkbVM3bW5rSzExRzBJQ0FDSjVleElaMEl2R2NkZXB6NXBualFDNm03TmNoTGpBYW5nbDZOQ0I2aUNlMW5mQXdBSGNrNFkyMVVkVWpLQzVvWGYzM1c2WldpSmFyZmFaNA&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FChibitronics-Pressure-Sensitive-Conductive-Velostat%2Fdp%2FB09KS72DV2%2Fref%3Dsr_1_1%3Fkeywords%3DVelostat%26qid%3D1674894269%26sr%3D8-1&v=8SQOBF0_80Y

[@NoviceRobot]

Come on, do you even know about basic electronic?! You are making a short circuit by doing that. You got lucky the velostat is resistive enough. You could have started a fire or worse.. Damn

[@seanshadmand]

Nepetalactone thanks for the heads up. I am indeed a novice and at the time I couldn’t find any videos that showed got it could work. What’s the right way to do it?

[@bubbaloujones9648]

No, it's no more a short circuit than if you replaced the velostat with a resistor. Velostat is a piezoelectric resistive material. He's using it the way it's supposed to be used.

[@NoviceRobot]

@@bubbaloujones9648 Not at all. If you want to use velostat as a pressure sensitive sensor, don't use it like a resistor in a series circuit. You saw the current rising up to more than 400 mA, witch is too much for conductive fabric. The right way to use it, for example with an arduino, is by making a resistor bridge divider using your pressure sensor as one of the two resistor in the circuit

[@NoviceRobot]

@@seanshadmand You saw some magic smoke! It's because you were drawing like 2.7 Amps from your batteries through the conductive fabric, the fabric can't handle such current! Check the resistivity of your pressure sensor when not pressed, and when pressed. Then, make a voltage divider using another resistor in series with your sensor. You should read a different voltage between the resistor and the sensor every time you push on the velostat. You can calculate the voltage you are supposed to get between the two resistors (your sensors is basically a variable resistor) if you know the resistors values and the voltage you are powering your circuit.

[@bubbaloujones9648]

It went no higher than 30mA (at who knows what voltage ... 1.5V or 3V, probably 3V). 0.09 Watts. No enough to make his fingers hot, let alone " started a fire or worse.. ****", whatever that is. No magic smoke let out. It is however a good idea in practice to at least have a resistor in series, and if this was part of a project instead of a quick demo he should measure the resistance (which is essentially a voltage divider) not the current.