Assembly & Setup

Placement and setup

1. Place the non-slip mat on a rigid surface (concrete or a wooden platform recommended)
2. Set the ZPlate on the mat with the arrow facing toward the athlete
3. Power on and connect in the ZForce app (see Quick Start)
4. Tare from the Device screen with nothing on the plate

Bilateral (left / right) measurement

The ZPlate is already a bilateral plate: one chassis carries two independent measuring surfaces, each on four load cells. There is no second device to buy and no left/right pairing step.

• The athlete stands with one foot on each surface and must not cross the centre line
• All 8 channels share a single sequence counter, aligned in firmware, so left and right are inherently synchronised
• Asymmetry is computed directly from left and right channels of the same capture

Caution

Tare before every test. Tare is a firmware command — the app never applies it automatically on test start.

Sensing

• 8 load cells: four per measuring surface, one at each corner; type DYX-301-100
• 2 mV/V sensitivity, 5 V bridge excitation
• Each channel has its own 24-bit Σ-Δ ADC, wired ratiometrically (the excitation supply also feeds the ADC reference, so gain drift cancels)
• All 8 channels sample at 1000 Hz and every sample is streamed to the app over BLE — no decimation, no capture-side filtering
• Calibration factors are per ADC + load cell, stored in the device’s own flash, and are never transferable between plates or hardware generations

Firmware

The firmware version is shown on the Device screen in the ZForce app, which is also where updates happen: Firmware → Check → Update. Updates run over BLE — no programmer and no cable required.

Note

The plate reboots to apply an update and cannot capture for roughly 2 minutes. Do not start an update during a capture; the plate refuses update requests while streaming.

Enclosure

The enclosure is anodised aluminium. Do not expose to standing water. Clean with a dry or slightly damp cloth.