Measuring weight of water filter with hx711

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1

Hey everyone!

I’ve been working on a project to measure the volume (by weight) of a 2 gallon standup water filter. Seemed like a pretty simple idea, so I put together an esp8266, hx711 with some 50kg load cells, and esphome and gave it a shot.

However, I’ve run into a wall that I can’t figure out how to get past. I can’t seem to get reliable measurements from the sensor. With no load on the sensor, the values just constantly increase and that doesn’t change by anything noticeable when I do put a load on it.

I’ve tried both kinds of hx711 and even tried a single 10kg load cell, thinking maybe the 50kg was too big for my use. I’ve read that wiring can be an issue, but it all looks fine to me.

Basic wiring is:
5V → VCC (I’ve tried 3.3V also)
GND → GND
D0 → DAT (I’ve tried others)
D1 → CLK (I’ve tried others)

and the load sensors wires are wired per their color.

I can post a picture if it’s helpful, but right now it’s just a bunch of wires between the esp8266, the hx711, and a load cell sitting on my desk. I’m fairly confident that it is wired and programmed correctly.

Are there any ideas on how I can troubleshoot what/where the issue is here? I’m unsure of what I need to test or look at in order to diagnose.

Thank you for any help!

Chris

2

You give us no idea what software you are using, or what “wired per their color” actually means.

3

I came here expecting to see a solution, not a problem. Why is this posted here?

4

Because no one can help you on the current information.

5

I can certainly move it. I wasn’t sure where to post questions like this.

Where would be a more appropriate forum?

6

I’m using esphome for programming of the esp8266 and home-assistant running on a rpi4. I apologize for leaving that out. I didn’t think it was a software problem.

As for the load sensor color wiring, it has red, white, black, and green wires which go to red, white, black, and green labeled pins on the HX711.

7

There is a hardware category and you can tag it with esphome (or post under the ESPHOME category). Not that Nick can’t help you but you want to increase your chances of getting help.