HX711 with a Four Wire Load Cell and Arduino | Step by Step Guide.

In this video, I explain how to connect a four-wire load cell to the HX711 amplifier module and how to read the weight value with an Arduino.
Diagrams and pictures:
circuitjournal.com/four-wire-...
Github page of the "HX711_ADC" library:
github.com/olkal/HX711_ADC
3D printed parts:
www.thingiverse.com/thing:460...
Buy from Amazon:
Crimping tool (I am using this one): amzn.to/3jaDwci
DuPont connector set: amzn.to/3rCPT8e
Load Cell with HX711: amzn.to/2zwTcG1
Genuine Arduino Uno: amzn.to/2ZXfdsr
Male to male jumper wires: amzn.to/2TX0GZP
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
Buy from Aliexpress:
Crimping Tool: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dVT...
DuPont Connector Set: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dUQ...
Load Cell with HX711 Module: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9GL349
Arduino Uno Compatible Board: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AVaoKb
Set of Jumper Wires: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/cnhvUw2c
Disclosure: Bear in mind that some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.
Timecodes:
00:00 Intro
00:20 Demo
00:45 Different load cells
01:44 How does the load cell work?
02:39 The HX11 amplifier module
02:50 Assembly
05:03 Verifying the wires
06:16 Connecting the load cell to the amplifier module
06:50 Connecting the HX711 module to Arduino
07:19 Downloading the HX711_ADC Library
07:42 Arduino code
08:14 Calibrating the load cell
09:35 Testing the load cell with various objects
10:15 End
Music from KZbin audio library.

[@user-sm7ft9xl4j]

Indrek, this video did take me 5 hours to execute -- but at the end of it, I came out victorious. You are forever going to be my load cell king. I am indebted and will spend the remainder of my mortal days finding ways to honor and love your presence. Thank you. - ** Capstone Team

[@MalachiBurke]

I'm a 30 year software engineer, and this is a very good video. Nice and clear. Well done!

[@stefannetzer355]

Great explanation of the HX711, Loadcell and Arduino Code. I linked this one to my rain gauge, where I used exactly this combination.

[@wasanthawijayaratna]

More than 5 months I was trying to implement this, was not success, may be I'm so dumb :), finally I found something works, thanks, now I can continue my project...

[@francoismacquaire6397]

Une video toujours d'actualité que je transfère à mes étudiants pour un projet scientifique. Merci.

[@noahcwb]

thanks! for the video! i plan on using three load cells to make sim racing pedals for my pc and this helps me to feel more comfortable on working on it!

[@user-kg7bz8mj4w]

Dear Indrek Luuk, I am very grateful for the sketch and library you created for Arduino. I worked with it for three evenings and, using the Frankenstein method, increased the number of HX711 sensors to seven, and also added PLX DAQ, which now allows me to create weight control tables and graphs. My plans are also to remake the tare system via EEPROM to save the data of the last weight measurement, and not the tare. since in my botanical experiments I use strain gauges to determine the weight of hives during the flight of bees, and when the Arduino is rebooted, the data is reset to 0. And a hive with bees, nectar and honey weighs from 50 to 150 kg and it’s hard to pull it every time. Thank you for the program and interesting blog.

[@civismesecret]

Good approach. Is your project successful now?

[@niladrichowdhury8106]

Great job please continue with these amazing projects.

[@thomascruickshank7407]

Truly an amazing video! Engineers will be using this as a reference for years, thank you!

[@sunishsuresh4073]

Loved the in-depth explanation... keep doing these work

[@IndrekL]

Thanks!

[@markpostlethwaite9672]

Brilliant! I’m new to arduino and these videos are a great help! I’m looking forward to your up and coming projects.

[@IndrekL]

Awesome, thank you!

[@ProfessorOzone]

You gave enough information for a fairly inexperienced person to actually make this project. Thank you. Very well done.

[@IndrekL]

Thank you very much!

[@jesusalpizar4828]

Great work! Your detailed step by step explanation was so useful for my 11 years old daughter on calibrating her weight sensors for her school engineering fair project. Thanks a lot and keep up with the great work. 👍

[@IndrekL]

Thanks!

[@stonesvideos]

I totally agree and would like to say "thank you", too. I came across this video while looking for "ardunio with loadcell" and along the instructions on how to wire I appreciate the explanaition of the loadcell / wheatstone bridge. Great work and good to see people not just sharing but also explaining their knowledge :-)

[@billnage]

Great video regarding calibration of HX711. You covered quite a few "gotchas". Many Thanks!

[@IndrekL]

Thanks!

[@Samson.Boedefeld]

Awesome work! I‘m new to Arduino and you make it look easy. Thank you!

[@oadka]

Sir this was a very good video. Short and sweet. Its better than the other videos from even established channels on youtube.

[@IndrekL]

Thanks!

[@balajimk]

That's a brilliant demo, Mate! Thanks.

[@gungod6942]

This video helps my project of BE Thesis. Thank sir.

[@greengallop123]

Can't believe you ask the viewers to turn on subtitles! Excellent work!

[@IndrekL]

Thanks! I have received some comments that some people are struggling to follow my accent. I guess it depends on the listener's mother tongue.

[@greengallop123]

@@IndrekL keep up the great work!

[@eagonsiahaan9390]

This helps my project a lot thanks so much!

[@stevensheldon9271]

Thank you, your video helped me set up my load cell!

[@davitberishvili8062]

It's well explained. Thank you

[@sparrowhawk2112]

thank you ! very informative description.

[@simba478]

Thank You. This was very helpful. It worked flawlessly.

[@IndrekL]

Thanks!

[@fnoo2585]

Thank you for this very useful video through which I have completed the idea of how to design my project in my head.😍💙💙

[@AlstonMisquitta]

That was an excellent tutorial! Thanks a lot.

[@DiegoGomez-pk5tg]

Wow this really helped! Thank you!

[@SebastianTheCreative]

Amazing work man!

[@TheSchneidItworld]

wooow, that's gonna be useful, thanks!

[@innovativtexnologiya5782]

Thanx you for making great tutorials

[@uzcaliber]

Very detailed and useful video, nice job.

[@IndrekL]

Thank you very much!

[@ryanwykes]

this video is so helpful! thank you so much sir

[@d.athegreat3947]

One word... Outstanding.

[@Basherqueen]

WOW WOW WOW You are awesome, such a nice tutorial, I love it 👍👍👍

[@anggy8912]

thank sir, you help me a lot!

[@jakejakezack]

This video was so helpful. Thank you for making it. Would talk about how to program the OLED display? Keep up the good work!

[@IndrekL]

Thanks! Maybe, in the future.

[@08.baiqzahra97]

Thanks dude, you saved my live :D

[@bhupendraaditya6960]

Thanks u cleared my doubt about pairs

[@mikechristinson1936]

This vid is awesome and so are you!

[@thekidmagician7920]

This is a very informative video

[@mohamedelkhayati9176]

thank you for this great work

[@mickthemechanic5718]

Nice! Enjoyed it alot

[@wasanthawimaladharm]

always awesome

[@clobel55]

Finally someone whose English I can understand. Well done.

[@taherrad153]

Thank you so much, very useful video

[@ThuanDuong-pv3xu]

thank you for your 2:16 time i have repair my scale 200gr

[@Mitsuki7_]

I love you bro, till this day!

[@marnid]

Nice video, thank you!

[@ericmarcelo8976]

Good video. I suggest, however, that you use a more solid base, such as aluminum or even steel, instead of plastic. The flexing and bending of the plastic will cause inaccuracies in weighing. For demo purposes, your setup is fine but if you don't mention that a solid base is required, anyone who might still be learning will not get that important piece of knowledge.

[@mikephilmelendez]

Hello. First off I wanted to say that your videos are very very informative. I ordered the 20 g load cell from the link below, and was excited to get started with this project of building a small scale. However, I must say that the quality of the load cell doesn't seem to be up to par. I couldn't get an initial resistance reading just from the wiring. And I was wondering if there was something I was doing wrong

[@dokepravin2916]

Thank You for sharing!

[@Bianchi77]

Creative video, thanks :)

[@AshwajeetKamble]

You earned a sub ♥️♥️

[@IndrekL]

Thanks!

[@zanhanzel2765]

great video bro

[@kursadyilmazoglu8565]

great explanation; cAtCHy intonation

[@ahmetkarakartal9563]

so good, thank you so much

[@lafondawilliams]

Great stuff

[@luanregisteobaldo2531]

excellent project. I set up a scale using the same load cell you used, with hx711 and esp32. The weight I use to calibrate the scale measures correctly, but the other weights are out and the greater the weight, the lower the measured value. Can you help me?

[@brahimmessaoudi8812]

Thanks for your detailed explanations. Very much appreciated. By the way, I am looking for a detailed tutorial on how to make a "smart gas scale" using 3-4 load cells and Arduino together with an LDC screen and some sensors... Could you be of any help for this? Thanks in advance, B.

[@agusprayogo7932]

Hi i want to ask something. Does the weight rating also reflect the accuracy or anything else on this module? Or is it just the max weight we can measure using it? Thanks

[@paulmeynell8866]

Brilliant thank you

[@Eduard_Kolesnikov]

очень хорошее обьяснение спасибо мужик

[@shoaibahmedsiddique]

@Indrek , is it possible to get correct readings within 1 seconds of time? I saw in many videos that it takes areound 2-2.5 sec to settle down and measure the load weight correctly.

[@scientifiko4246]

Your way of explanation is really amazing. If I want to add 100kg or 200kg load cell what I need to do?

[@shivajib]

Very informative.. I want to implement the load sensor for 0 to 1.5 kg. But the thing is load cell which you shows is very big in size. So do we have any alternatives in smaller size.

[@fatimafatima-oc7dz]

thank you so much please did you have software to read strain gauge ???

[@net576354]

Thanks in advanced for your introducing the application of the hx711 .But in my arduino serial output shows my measurement still increasing non stop.Can you help me thanks

[@ahmetselim1166]

guys I have a simple question does this work when it's not on the table or the surface for example if I use it in a nylon bag, does it show correct values? Thanks in advance.

[@bobguy89]

Do you know how I would code the arduino to weigh something and when it's lower than the intended weight, it uses a speaker to play a tone?

[@freddiesnijman]

Excellent 😎

[@IndrekL]

Thank you!

[@thewhatafag]

Hi Could you make a video where you make a center of gravity scale using the andruino and 4 load cells?

[@niklasprobst5241]

many thanks

[@Midoo2121]

Hi , thanks for the great video can i use it with more acquisitions rate load cells ? and do you have any recommendations for one that can get 10-50 Kg with more than 10Hz acquisition rate?

[@sarfrazmohammad6180]

Very very nice

[@shehzadulhaq1686]

Good work. Can you please tell me that how we can measure the tension or compression using beam load cell?

[@nguyentram3958]

Hi! Thankyou so much for your video. I would ask you that is it possiple to use 4wires loadcell of 5tons capacity, even it is 4 wires loadcell but it is said that the exicitation voltage is 10V DC, but the operation voltage of HX711 is just 5V? And how much that the HX711 amplifies the voltge of the loadcell? Thankyou so much!

[@devendranama2728]

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I need to measure a weight change with respect to time for my project work. Is it possible to make a weighing machine using Arduino which gives weight with the time simultaneously.

[@lanceluong5503]

IT WORKED OH MY OOGHS

[@user-zd9ni8zl1r]

Thank you❤

[@minhkhoa3848]

tysm im doing a project on 2.5 tons one

[@mohammedhammouda2692]

Hello. Thank you for the video. I am wondering if this load cell can measure weights at an angle? Meaning does it have a y component for example? or at least can the y component be found? Even if by measuring the mV/V using a multimeter. I have exposed the strain gauge and it looks like there are two strain gauges but I am not sure.

[@EDGARDOUX1701]

Great video! One question: Can I use this module with a 200 kilo load cell? Thank you

[@vipinpachouri4766]

Nice and Informative Video: I want to measure the tension in a cable, can you kindly suggest some source from where I can start. Thank you in advance.

[@wesley191095]

Hello from Brazil. Great job! This video is the best I have watched about load cells. But how could I connect two or more Four Wire Load Cell?

[@IndrekL]

It would be easiest to use one HX711 module per four-wire load cell.

[@kalaanakal1725]

@@IndrekL Hello sir when i run the program in terminal it shows load output value : nan . How to solve it

[@SMRTSENS]

how I can increase the sensitivity of the weight measuring? is there any library that we can add to the programm?

[@manafalimahammed6767]

Very nice project. Please tell me how can get the parts that you fixed your load cell with them? I mean the two plastic parts. Thank you.

[@MohamedAfzal]

nice work. but i have question . while arduino reading the values the power resets and it will not show the existing weight on load cell. any suggestions??

[@carlos.galhano]

Very good vídeo, I was searching for this all the week. Can you tell me if there os a way to get the measurment more slowly? And how to connect the display to a Arduino Uno R3.

[@fusarifilippo]

@Indrek i have a mavin n151 load cell, i have 5 cables that came out of it. What is the purpose of the 5th cable? thanks in advice if you can help me! :)

[@mdsalman971]

Make a video on loadcell strain gauge wiring and full circuit amplifier.

[@josephmahlomolamasenkane8414]

Great videos. Is there any limit on the load cell capacity that can work with HX711? E.g. can I use it with bulk bag scales like 5 ton load cells?

[@liyuan6669]

From my perspective, you may need a commercial AtoD converter since this one is only for experiment...

[@johanarcosmendez4680]

Hi Indrek, really nice tutorial. I was wondering if I would be able to use a second load cell and connect it to the B+ and B- pins of the Hx711? If so, how would this connection go? Thank you, keep up the good work.

[@IndrekL]

Hey! Yes, it should be possible. You can connect it the same way as to the A+ and A-. I read about the channel B a little and it seems that is not as sensitive as channel A. And it seems that the HX711_ADC library doesn't support the channel B. Maybe there are other libraries for the HX711 module that do support it.

[@chali272]

how many of this can be connected to one controller? i like to connect like 10 of this to get info on punches and kicks,

[@malathimoorthi4111]

Awesome

[@gocar7255]

Heyy great work. I need to use a load cell for a project, Will it work if i put it upside down. I need to push upwards onto the cell.

[@julienvalentin8396]

very good video ! Does anyone know where the reference of the elements is at the very end when they connect a screen? (with the arduino NANO) I am interested in the miniaturized version

[@angryponcheck1638]

Thanks, Friend

[@marianodiaz461]

Hi; great tutorial, can you please tell me if this will work with the Arduino Nano?

[@izzat_jundy]

Terima kasih!

[@ericw46732]

I am new to the world of Audrino IDE. I am trying to build a scale using in-line load cells to a junction box to an amplifier to an Audrino Uno R3. I have a display hooked into the Audrino. I am looking to put fasteners onto the scale and convert the weight to PC count and have it show on the display. I am having problems on which libraries to load in the IDE and the proper coding to use to get the results that I seek. Any suggestions????