Sensors

Sensors transduce phenomena into measurable electrical forms by modulating voltage, current, resistance, status, or pulse output signals. Suitable sensors do this with accuracy The degree to which the result of a measurement, calculation, or specification conforms to the correct value or a standard. and precision The amount of agreement between repeated measurements of the same quantity (AKA repeatability).. Smart sensors have internal measurement and processing components and simply output a digital value in binary, hexadecimal, or ASCII character form.

Most electronic sensors, regardless of manufacturer, will interface with the data logger. Some sensors require external signal conditioning. The performance of some sensors is enhanced with specialized input modules. The data logger, sometimes with the assistance of various peripheral devices, can measure or read nearly all electronic sensor output types.

The following list may not be comprehensive. A library of sensor manuals and application notes is available at www.campbellsci.com/support to assist in measuring many sensor types.

• Analog
  • Voltage
  • Current
  • Strain
  • Thermocouple
  • Resistive bridge
• Pulse
  • High frequency
  • Switch-closure
  • Low-level AC
  • Quadrature
• Period average
• Vibrating wire
• Smart sensors
  • SDI-12
  • RS-232
  • Modbus
  • DNP3
  • TCP/IP
  • RS-422
  • RS-485