REB5 Button Load Cell
You can buy just the Load Cells or buy the Load Cells with interface devices such as analog signal conditioners, digital USB or wireless load cell interfaces, displays and software as complete ready to use kits.
REB5 Button Load Cell Quick Links
Highlights
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Capacities
REB5 Button load cells are available in 2 kg, 5 kg, 10 kg and 100 kg capacities. See RSB5 for smaller size and RSB2 & RSB1 for higher capacities. -
Calibration Mode
Button load cells can be used only for Compression measurements. If you need to measure tensile forces then use RSB3, RAS1, RAL1 load cells. -
Accuracy Class & Compensated Temperature Range
+/- 1% of full scale from -10C to 40C -
Construction and Use
Built-in raised surface with curvature for applying compressive loads. Rugged strain relief provided on cable egress for improved reliability.
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UART/USB Output
Use DI-100U with UART output to connect with Arduino or other microprocessors. Or use DI-100U/DI-1000U/DI-400U USB load cell interfaces to connect with PCs via USB.Wireless Output
Wireless output via XBee (802.15.4) Industrial Strength wireless or WiFi or BLE for easy connectivity with PCs, Tablets and SmartPhonesAnalog Output
Analog output via 0-5V DC or 4-20 mA output for easy input to DAQ or PLCCustomize
Call us for larger capacities or other unique needs. We can custom build them to order as needed.
Mounting Options
The button load cells have no mounting features to fasten them to another entity. One can sandwich the load cells between two plates or bodies or perhaps lightly glue them to a bottom surface by applying a thin layer of adhesive to the outside edge of the base. The sensors can be mounted in any orientation. Does not need to be verically mounted. The measured force will be the relative force between the two ends of the load cell.
Load Cell mounted to plate using three through holes
Load Cell can be mounted in any orientation
Apply compressive force on to the button
Flat head screws can be used to fasten load cell to plate
Load Cell Configurations
Button Load Cells are based on the classic wheatstone balanced bridge network design using strain gages. The baseline output is mV/V i.e. if you supply say 10V to the sensor, then the output voltage may vary from 0 mV to 20 mV for a 2 mV/V device. They can be mated and used with digital or analog signal conditioners (digital or analog interfaces) to connect with PCs, PLCs, or simple LCD diplays. We offer the following options:
USB Load Cell with DI-1000U Configuration
If you need to do testing and data gathering or want to display values on a PC/Tablet via USB, simply connect the load cell to the DI-1000U Digital Load Cell Interface & use the USB connector on the DI-1000 to connect to a PC via the USB port. The DI-1000U is a signal conditioner & 24-bit digitizer (good enough to handle load cells with 0.02% of full scale accuracy) and handles all the communications functions to talk with USB port of a PC. When connected this way, the load cell appears on the PC as a virtual COM port. Using a standard terminal emulator you can send commands to the sensor to display loads on screen. They can be displayed either one reading at a time or in continuous operation mode. You can also use Matlab, LabView or other popular programs to communicate and get calibrated readings from the load cell. It would be best if used our LoadVUE Pro application to display, log or plot data on a PC.
Suggested Kit:
REB5 Button Load Cell
DI-1000U Load Cell Interface
LV-1000 LoadVUE Pro Software
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
USB Load Cell with DI-100U Configuration
If you do not need the very high precision of the DI-1000U, you can use our DI-100U digital load cell interface with 16 bit ADCs and Serial TTL or USB output. The DI-100U is sufficient for accuracies of +/- 0.1% of full scale output. Or in other words if you need to measure +/- 1 lb accuracy over 1000 lb range or +/- 0.1 lb accuracy over 100 lb range, then the DI-100U is more than adequate for your application. If you wish to connect a load cell with an Arduino or other microprocessors or microcontrollers, then you can disconnect the S2U Serial to USB converter adapter and directly communicate via UART.
Suggested Kit:
REB5 Button Load Cell
DI-100U Load Cell Interface
LV-1000 LoadVUE Pro Software
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
16 Bit Four Sensor USB Kit
A lower priced version of the above 4 sensor kit is also available with a DI-400U 4 channel USB load cell interface
Suggested Kit:
Four REB5 Button Load Cells
DI-400U 4 Channel USB Interface
SensorVUE Software
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
USB Load Cell with LCD Display
If you don't want to use a PC or PLC and just want a simple LCD display, you can use our DS-3000-Pro Touch Screen LCD Display. The load cell needs to be mated with a DI-100U or DI-1000U and calibrated together as a pair. This pair can be used with the display or with a PC or tablet. This it gives you a load cell, a DI-1000U USB Interface, LoadVUE Pro software (to use with a PC to display, log and plot data and recalibrate if needed) plus a Touch Screen Single Channel Display if all you need to do is just use for operations for a quick display.
Suggested Kit:
REB5 Button Load Cell
DI-1000U or DI-100U USB Interface
DS-3000-Pro-1 Touch Screen Display
LoadVUE Pro Software
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
USB Load Cell with 4-Channel LCD Display
When you want to display values from multiple load cells on a LCD Display, then use our DS-3000-Pro-4 device as shown below. The DI-400U Four Channel USB Interface connects to four load cells. You can use SensorVUE software to display, log and plot data or just use the DS-3000-Pro-4 display to show individual as well as total load on all connected sensors (up to four).
Suggested Kit:
Four REB5 Button Load Cells
DI-400U USB Interface
DS-3000-Pro-4 Touch Screen Display
SensorVUE Software
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
Wireless Load Cell Configuration
You can use this load cell wirelessly by connecting it to our DI-1000ZP wireless load cell interface. This configuration allows you to wirelessly connect to a Windows/Unix/Mac computer. On a Windows platform, you can use our LV-1000 LoadVUE Pro software to display, log and plot force vs time data effortlessly. The DI-1000ZP uses the 802.15.4 protocol and offers robust connectivity to about 1000 feet in industrial environments. It comes with a battery backup for cordless operation for a couple of hours. If you wish to connect via WiFi or BLE we offer the DI-1000WiFi and DI-1000BLE that makes it easy to communicate with Smartphones as well.
Suggested Kit:
REB5 Button Load Cell
DI-100U Load Cell Interface
LV-1000 LoadVUE Pro Software
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
Analog Load Cell Configuration
Some users want a high level 0-5V analog DC output in order to work with existing data acquisition systems or PLCs. Ih that case, you can use this load cell with our AI-1000 Load Cell interface which provides an amplified 0.5 to 4.5V output proportional to the applied loads. We can provide the system together with calibration and the formula to convert from voltage to loads/forces when ordered in this configuration. We also offer the AI-1000-CV with 4-20 mA output if you prefer current output. Please contact us for this kit.
Suggested Kit:
REB5 Button Load Cell
AI-1000 Analog Load Cell Interface
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
Application Development
If you are looking to develop your own custom software application, our digital USB load cells and wireless load cell interfaces offer convenient ASCII commands to obtain load information directly from the interfaces/load cells without need for any signal conditioning or data processing. With just a few commands you'll be able to incorporate load/force/weight information into your application. You can also use Visual Basic, Visual C++, Matlab, LABView or any other application development environment to create your custom applications with our interface/load cells.
See our support pages for details.
- How to Write Software to Work with DI-1000U / DI-1000UHS / DI-1000UHS-1K
- How to Write Software to Work with DI-100U / DI-100UHS / DI-400U / DI-400UHS
- How to Write Software to Work with iLoad / iLoad Pro / iLoad Mini / iLoad Mini Pro
You can access Sample Code for Visual Basic, Matlab, Python, Arduino and customize it for your own needs.
Alternative Load Cells
We offer a range of Button Load Cells for compression or push force measurement. The RSB1 is available in 4400 lb or 11,000 lb only and is about 3.25" oin diameter. For capacities from 50 lb to 2500 lbs check out the RSB2 load cell just 2 inches in diameter and an inch high, one of our most popular load cells. For applications that need small sizes, the smallest one we offer is the sub miniature RSB5 load cell which is just 10 mm in diameter and 3 mm high! Or our REB5 load cell that is also a miniature load cell but is a lot more economical.
RSB2
Steel Buttton Load Cell
Capacities: 25 kg to 1K kg
Accuracy Class: 0.5% of full scale
Comp. Temp Range: -10C to 40C
RSB5
Subminiature Load Cell
Capacities: 5 lb to 50 lb
Accuracy Class: 0.02% of full scale
Comp. Temp Range: -10C to 40C
REB5
Subminiature Load Cell
Capacities: 2 kg to 10 kg
Accuracy Class: 0.05% of full scale
Comp. Temp Range: -10C to 40C
Watch and Learn
FAQ
Because of the distinctive "button" on top of the cylindrical body of the load cell.
Button load cells are designed forcompression force measurement only. They typically have threaded holes at the bottom to makes it easy to attach them to a base plate and just a button on top where a force can be applied.
The button load cell is a resisitive load cell device. It is built using strain gauges arranged in a wheatstone bridge network. A strain gauge is basically a resistive element that is piezo resistive i.e. it changes resistance in response to changes in strain (change in length over original length). Applied forces lead to induced stresses that lead to displacement and strain. The change in strain leads to a change in resistance. So with an applied inout voltage one can measure tiny changes in voltage and use this to infer the applied force.
We offer signal conditioners that allow you to connect to a computer (PC. Mac or Linux) via USB (DI-100U or DI-1000U) or wirelessly via XBee, WiFi or BLE protocols (DI-1000ZP/DI-1000WiFi/DI-1000BLE).
We also offer sensor interfaces with UART output (DI-100U) to connect to a microcontroller to develop an embedded application. Our analog signal conditioner (AI-1000 and AI-1000-CV) make it easy to get analog 0-5 V voltage output or 4-20 mA current output. Or simply connect to our touch screen LCD display to show values on a simple physical display.
We offer free LoadVUE Lite software to display force/weight on a Windows 8/10 PC/Tablet. The LoadVUE Pro software allows you to display, log & plot force/weight data, recalibrate sensors and get remote support. SensorVUE extends support to an unlimited number of sensors as well as all types of sensors we offer. ControlVUE software extends the functionality offered by SensorVUE and adds the ability to control external devices based on sensor values through a USB Relay with one to eight channel. Our sensors and interfaces allow you to write your own code as well! We also offer customization and custom software development services to meet your specific needs!
Yes. We offer calibration service on new sensor purchases as well as recalibration service for previously purchased sensors. We use NIST traceable reference standards to perform and validate the calibration and provide a free calibration certificate as part of the service. We are NOT ISO certified.
You can register on our website, login and see all prices, download spec sheets and solid models. You can also send us an email with your contact information and shipping address and we will be happy to send you a formal quote.
We give you a 30 day guiarantee for you purchase. You can exchange or return your purchased products for a refund of the purchase price of the product. Any calibration service fees, shipping and payment fees cannot be refunded. Feel free to try out our products risk free and see for yourself how easy we make it for you!
We need between one and two weeks usually to ship your order for items in stock. This is because we have to make your sensor, interface and calibrate them together, make sure the quality meets all specs and then pack and ship it to you. We offer expedited processing options if you are in a rush and need to get sensors sooner. If out of stock or if sensors are needed in volume, we could take 4-6 weeks or longer. Please contact us to get an estimate of price and lead time for your particular needs.
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