Reddit mentions: The best acceleration sensors

Here is the main website detailing how to build an EDTracker. You should make sure to read through this website in addition to reading my comment.

You have a few decisions to make:

1. MPU-6050, MPU-9150, or MPU-9250 gyroscope board. The first does not have a magnetometer and is prone to drifting, so it's not recommended. The second is the best of the three options and most plans are built around it. The third is basically equivalent to the second, except that the board is larger, so you'll need to adapt plans to build around the larger board. Finding the second can be hard though, while the third is pretty widely available.
   
   
2. SparkFun Pro Micro or a compatible clone (Arduino board based on ATmega32u4 microcontroller with USB and 24 pins). There are lots of options here, just be careful that whatever you get is compatible with the SparkFun Pro Micro
   
   
3. Whether you want a reset orientation button on the tracker. This is nice to have, but isn't strictly necessary because you can also reset the orientation using a keyboard shortcut. If you go with the MPU-9250 board, you'll have less room for a reset orientation button since the MPU-9250 board is larger, but it's possible to squeeze it on
   
   
4. How to mount the components together. As discussed on the website, you can do protoboard, PCB, or breadboard. You can also mount the components directly to each other with tiny wires connecting the components, but that requires some tricky soldering. From easiest to hardest: PCB, broadboard, protoboard, mounting components to each other. From largest to smallest: breadboard, PCB, protoboard, mounting components to each other.
   
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   Here's what I did for my build:
   
   
5. I purchased an MPU-9250 board from Amazon here
   
   
6. I purchased a Pro Micro clone from Amazon here. Note that my Pro Micro clone seems to have trouble running its programming upon first being connected to power, necessitating a soft-reset by connecting the RST pin to ground. After the soft reset, the Pro Micro clone runs its programming successfully. I plan to wire a button to the RST pin so that I can do the soft-reset every time I plug in my Pro Micro clone.
   
   
7. I decided not to go for a reset orientation button on the tracker because I wanted to keep the cost down =P I'm fine with resetting orientation using a keyboard shortcut
   
   
8. I decided to mount the components directly to each other, again to keep the cost down. Mine kinda looks like this. Here is another build that is slightly less compact. I don't really recommend this mounting option unless you have a good understanding of the wiring diagrams, decent soldering skills, and a lot of patience fiddling with tiny wires.
   
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   After you build the EDTracker, it requires programming and calibration. I would follow the instructions from the website above, I don't have anything to add to those instructions.
   
   In order to make the EDTracker software work with VRidge, you'll need OpenTrack to translate between the two pieces of software. Follow the instructions here to setup the EDTracker software and OpenTrack. You'll also need to set VRidge to take sensor data from the FreeTrack protocol.
   
   There's one very important piece of information that doesn't appear anywhere. You want to start OpenTrack immediately after the orientation has been reset in the EDTracker software. That way OpenTrack will have the same understanding of the neutral position as the EDTracker software. If this isn't done correctly, you get really strange side effects when moving around. If you then want to map a keyboard button to reset the orientation, this should be done in the EDTracker software and not the OpenTrack software.
   
   Hopefully you find this helpful!

I built some custom scales using scrap hardwood and an HX711 AD converter and four 50kg load sensors for each scale. I'm running a very buggy and slightly modified version of tatobari's hx711py library on the raspberry pi to pull weight settings, but the readings are very shaky and extremely sensitive to changes in temperature, so it's only accurate to about +/-5% (which I'm comfortable with now). I have hardcoded tare weights for full and empty kegs/CO2 canisters, so the python script is sending a calculated percentage to the influxdb database (housed on another, more stable machine in my house) using the influxdb API.

My solution is a little janky but it came together quickly with tools that I'm familiar with. Other folks on r/homebrewing have come up with similar methods and PLAATO just introduced a commercial solution for weighing kegs.

It's some of the cheap half-bridge load cell sensors off Amazon (these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D6HYYSN) hooked up to an ESP8266 (I love those boards).


I know the sensors are capable of it, as they're able to pick up when the cats sit in my DIY smart chair, but I'm still working on getting it to differentiate between her and I. The mounting solution is not the best and I think that's causing some issues. I currently just have the load cells along the frame rail, right under the edge of the box-spring, and I don't think they make complete contact with the box spring.

I tried looking for a Jaguar disassembly video, but didn't have any luck. Instead, I tried searching for tilt sensors at Amazon. In addition to ones like this, which look like the ones in the older RB guitars, there were also acceleration sensor chips like this. That's a three-axis accelerometer chip, that can tell which way gravity is pointing. Maybe one of those little chips is the sensor.

Gyro is short for gyroscope though. A gyroscope is anything that measures or maintains orientation and angular velocity. The electronic ones measure orientation and angular velocity, and that’s all that’s required for them to be called gyroscopes.

If you search for “gyro sensors” on amazon you’ll find that they’re all called gyroscope sensors.

Example:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J167T84/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_VbNWDbWMM8EGY

Or they bought one of these, this, and this, and now you have all the sensors for your spacecraft.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OPNUO9U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Accelerometers measure acceleration. It's not the same as an inclinometer. You may be able to approximate tilt for your application from a single accelerometer but to eliminate false indications you would need two.

If you do use an accelerometer, keep in mind that one will not read zero in the vertical plane unless it's in freefall. If it's at rest it will give the reading of gravity (9.8m/Sec^2 )

There are tilt sensors but I have never used them. I can't say if intertia would cause problems with the reading.

https://www.amazon.com/SunFounder-Switch-Sensor-Arduino-Raspberry/dp/B014KQA3T2/ref=sr_1_2?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1478675603&sr=1-2&keywords=tilt+sensor

There are also gyroscope/accelerometer units that aren't very pricey. If you're going to use something like an Arduino or Raspberry Pi, this would be my choice.

https://www.amazon.com/Makerfire%C2%AE-Arduino-MPU-6050-Gyroscope-Accelerometer/dp/B00NH8Z6BU/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1478675641&sr=1-1&keywords=arduino+accelerometer

How would I go about taring the scale? Also, the output isn't just noise, when I press down on the load cell, the output stays the same/follows the same patterns. This means the load cell is almost completely useless, not just inaccurate. Lastly, this is the load cell that I used https://www.amazon.com/CHENBO-Converter-Breakout-Arduion-Weighing/dp/B07Q5D9QB9?pf_rd_p=0fc3f2c4-3ed5-4d11-9995-8d7c82394713&pd_rd_wg=dYDUe&pf_rd_r=ESRG5WE28RVMKHZ8QAC8&ref_=pd_gw_cr_simh&pd_rd_w=wT58U&pd_rd_r=da6dad7b-416b-40b3-b636-32c0d7e2d642#detail-bullets

I thought I put it in the main post but apparently not.