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Determining the Right Cable Length and Output for Sensor

The Capabilities of Different Output Types.

If you’re monitoring a bridge or automating a machine, a high-precision sensor is a great solution, but it’s no good if the output signal can’t reach the data logger. Depending on what you need to measure and what environment you’re in, determining how long your cable must run can be crucial.

High precision sensors offer three common output types: analog, digital and current and each one can serve a certain purpose based on your application.

Capabilities of Voltage Output

Analog output is typically used for applications that do not require long cable lengths since voltage is susceptible to noise interference from vibration and RF waves. A thicker, shielded cable can be used to resist noise and allow cable lengths to run to 50 feet or more. This comes in handy for industrial manufacturing applications where longer cables are needed, but there is a lot of outside movement and vibration. Some standard options are 0-5, ±5V, 0-10V, ±10V or 0.5-4.5V.

Features of Current Output

Current output is more immune to outside interference which means it can run through cable lengths of 4,000+ meters. For really long lengths, a shielded cable may be necessary to resist outside noise and vibration. This is used for putting a sensor in hard-to-reach places such as structural monitoring, retaining walls, slope stability, volcano studies, and platform leveling and positioning. The standard option is 4-20mA output.

Assets of Digital Output

Digital output can provide a variance of cable lengths based on which signal is used. The maximum length for RS-232 output is 15 meters, which is fine for industrial automation and testing. RS-422 and RS-485 are capable of up to 1,000 meters of cable distance giving you more ability for things like structural monitoring. Other options are also available for some models, such as UART TTL and Ethernet interface.

Which Sensors Offer These Output Options?

Many sensors offer multiple output options so that you can use the specifications of one model, but with the choice of two or three output types. Force balanced sensors that offer more than one output option include the LCF-2330, LCF-300, RMIW, SMI, LSOX, DXI, and DXA. MEMS sensors offer analog, current, and digital output types as do the 700 series, 800 series, and 900 series electrolytic tiltmeters.

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