USB Load Cells
USB load cells are load cells or force sensors that are powered by and can communicate with a PC, Tablet or Raspberry Pi through a USB port.
Add to your Kit:
iLoad Pro Digital USB Load Cell
LV-1000 LoadVUE Pro Software
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
USB Load Cell Interfaces are signal conditioners that allow traditional resistive load cells with mV/V ratiometric output to work exactly like USB load cells.
Suggested Kit:
RAS1 S-Beam Load Cell
DI-1000U Load Cell Interface
LV-1000 LoadVUE Pro Software
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
What is a USB Load Cell?
Why should one use a USB Load Cell?
Traditional load cells, are made from strain gauges arranged in a Wheatstone bridge configuration, and output a millivolt signal proportional to the applied force.
A user typically needs to provide a 10V DC power supply, a signal conditioner to amplify this signal, a data acquisition system to digitize the signal and application software such as LabVIEW to view and process the signal!
Loadstar Sensors' elegant USB Load Cells and USB Load Cell Interfaces simplify this process and make it relative quick and inexpensive to measure forces.
USB Load Cells with Capacitive Load Cell Technology
Our iLoad Series Digital load cells are based on patented capacitive sensing technology. It has integrated electronics that convert a load into a frequency and then into a calibrated force/load/weight reading on a PC or a microcontroller without need for any additional signal conditioners, data acquisition systems or special software.
This unique, patent protected technology eliminates the need for an intermediate interface device, an external power source and specialized Analog to Digital Converters. You don't need to use LabVIEW to write code to convert raw signals into calibrated forces. This sensor comes built in with an ASCII command set to make it easy to write your own applications without needing to understand low level electronics or code.
Connect a iLoad Digital load cell to your PC's USB port and start measuring! You can use our LoadVUE Pro, SensorVUE or ControlVUE software to display, log and plot data on a PC/Tablet.
USB Load Cell Solution for Resistive Load Cells
Similar to the capacitive load cell, you can connect Loadstar Sensors' resistive load cells to our digital load cell interfaces (e.g. DI-100U or DI-1000U) for a digital output via USB (or UART) to connect to a PC or microcontroller via a USB port. You can then use our LoadVUE Pro, SensorVUE or ControlVUE software to display, log and plot data on a PC/Tablet.
Suggested Kit:
RSB3 Button Load Cell
DI-1000U Load Cell Interface
LV-1000 LoadVUE Pro Software
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
UART/USB Load Cell Interface Technology
Most Popular USB Load Cell Kits
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.
Shown below are three of our most popular load cells with USB interfaces.
Kit Includes:
RSB2 Button Load Cell
DI-1000U Load Cell Interface
LV-1000 LoadVUE Pro Software
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
Kit Includes:
RSB6 Pancake Load Cell
DI-1000U Load Cell Interface
LV-1000 LoadVUE Pro Software
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
Kit Includes:
RAS1 S-Beam Load Cell
DI-1000U Load Cell Interface
LV-1000 LoadVUE Pro Software
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
Popular Capacitive USB Load Cells
Capacitive load cells work on the principle of change in capacitance in response to an applied force. When a force is applied, the change in gap between two capacitive plates leads to a change in capacitance. This change in capacitance is measured as a change in frequency. The iLoad Mini Load Cells output frequency and need the DQ-1000U or DQ-4000U frequency to UART/USB interface devices to output force data. The iLoad, iLoad TR and iLoad Pro sensors are fully integrated load cells with UART/USB digital calibrated outputs that can connect directly with a PC/Mac/Linux computer to display or gather data.
These capacitive load cells are meant for use under controlled room temperature (~25C) conditions and provide data at a maximum of 150 Hz (base models) or 500 Hz (high speed version). These load cells offer accuracies from +/- 0.25% of full scale to +/- 1% of full scale and are considered moderate accuracy, general purpose force sensors.
The iLoad Mini with Threaded Stud can be connected to a PC via a DQ-1000U to capture compressive, tensile or universal forces on a PC.
Kit Includes:
iLoad Mini - Stud Digital USB Load Cell
DQ-1000 Capacitive Interface
LV-1000 LoadVUE Pro Software
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
Simply connect the iLoad mini load cell to a DQ-1000U and then to a PC via the S2U adapter into the PC's USB port.
Kit Includes:
iLoad Mini Dome Digital USB Load Cell
DQ-1000 Capacitive Interface
LV-1000 LoadVUE Pro Software
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
You could also connect the iLoad Pro directly to DS-3000-Pro LCD display. This eliminates the need of a PC/Tablet.
Kit Includes:
iLoad Pro Digital USB Load Cell
DS-3000-Pro-1 Channel
Add Calibration
Add Accessories
How to Select and Configure your USB Load Cell Solution
Select Sensor
Pick a Load Cell
Pick the right load cell for your application based on:
Max Range, Accuracy, Operating Conditions & Certifications
Select Sensor
Select Interface
Pick a Digital Interface
Pick a Digital Interface based on:
Number of Channels + Output Type
Select Calibration Mode
Pick a Calibration Mode
Pick a Calibration Mode:
Compression, Tension, Universal
Select Calibration Mode
Select a Display
Pick a Software or Display
Pick a Software or Display:
Touch Screen LCD, Software on PC/Tablet
Types of Resistive Load Cells
Digital Calibration
Digital Calibration between your sensor and interface pair is necessary for digital USB output. Explore our Calibration options for your application.
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.
Learn More
iLoad Pro Digital USB Load Cell Demo
iLoad Mini USB Load Cell Demo
How to Build a USB Scale using DI-100U Interface
DI-1000U USB Interface: Quick Start Guide
FAQ
USB load cells are load cells or force sensors that are powered by and can communicate with a PC, Tablet or Raspberry Pi through a USB port. Unlike traditional load cells that require an additional signal conditioners to process and read the measurements, a USB load cell has built-in electronics that handle these tasks.
USB Load Cell Interfaces are signal conditioners that allow traditional resistive load cells with mV/V ratiometric output to work exactly like USB load cells.
By using a USB load cell interface, users can connect traditional load cells to their computers or other USB devices, enabling straightforward data acquisition, visualization, and analysis with the help of accompanying software.
Our USB load cells easier to set up and use, with plug-and-play functionality and accompanying software for data analysis.
In contrast, traditional load cells require additional external equipment, such as signal conditioners for USB connection, making them more complex and expensive to use.
Highlights of USB Load Cells:
- End to end solution (hardware and software integrated into a single package)
- Power supplied by PCs USB port
Sensor shows up as COM port on a PC
- Calibrated load information from the sensor (no need for conversion by end user)
- LoadVUE software with logging/plotting capability
To use multiple USB Load Cell simultaneously, you can connect your USB Load Cell to your PC's USB ports. If you don't have enough USB ports, you can use a USB Hub for more connections. You can then use SensorVUE or ControlVUE software.
Both softwares allow your to display, log, and plot data from multiple load cells simultaneously. ControlVUE has an additional function where you can control external devices based on sensor values or values derived from raw sensor values.
You can link to an Arduino via the UART serial port.
You can read more about how to connect and use our sensors with the Ardunio in this article.
Yes, you can connect your USB load cell to a PC or Mac and use Loadstar Sensors' software. However, our LoadVUE Pro, SensorVUE, and ControlVUE software is only available for Windows PCs.
LoadVUE Lite Single and 4-Channel software is compatible with Windows and Mac OS, but does not have logging and plotting capabilties.
- LoadVUE Pro, SensorVUE, ControlVUE, LoadVUE Lite, and LV-1000HS-10K are all compatible with our USB Load Cells.
It is important to note that LoadVUE Pro, SensorVUE, and ControlVUE software are only available for Windows PCs. LoadVUE Lite Single and 4-Channel software is compatible with Windows and Mac OS, but does not have logging and plotting capabilties.
