SparkFun Forums

[Nanda]

Hi guys.

Anyone of you know what kind of sensor is the best for my project? I am trying to build a punching bag with sensor inside, maybe vibration sensor or pressure sensor. I want to calcutate the force of the hitter, and display it in LCD. Do you guys have ideas what pressure sensors i have to use?

Thank you very much guys. I appreciate it

[Kuroi Kenjin]

If you know the mass of the bag, you could use an accelerometer. You'd just have to find an accelerometer that has a good peek reading and good response time. Possibly adding mass to the bag would help fromt he other end. The micro would just report the F=m*a result.

[mtwieg]

If you know the mass of the bag, you could use an accelerometer. You'd just have to find an accelerometer that has a good peek reading and good response time. Possibly adding mass to the bag would help fromt he other end. The micro would just report the F=m*a result.

That sounds like the best way. However, the trick will be translating the acceleration into force. You could measure how much force is felt by the device the accelerometer is mounted to, but not how much the bag itself feels. The force measured by the accelerometer will not only depend on how much force is delivered to the bag, but how that force is delivered, which will be inconsistent based on where you hit the thing.