We often receive phone calls from potential customers who have a temperature sensor in their hands, but little other information about it. This presents us with a number of problems. The first issue is identifying exactly what type of sensor it is.

Most industrial plant contact temperature sensors are thermocouples, resistance thermometers or thermistors. To identify the type of sensor, our advice goes along the lines of:

1. Is there any visible information on the instrument that displays the temperature?
2. What temperatures are usually recorded?
3. How many and what colour are any wires on the sensor or subsequent cabling?
4. Disconnect the sensor from the system and take a resistance measurement across any terminals on the sensor with a multimeter.

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