RTDs are great temperature sensors – accurate and easy to install.  But they are not friendly when it comes to trying to get a single RTD to go to two places, like when an RTD temperature measurement has to go to both a controller and a recorder.  People call and ask, “How do I split an RTD signal?”  The short answer is, “You can’t.”

An RTD cannot be wired in parallel or in series to a second device.  Any RTD input supplies a known, regulated ‘excitation’ current to the RTD.  Mixing RTD inputs would mix currents and that’s a Big No-No.

There’s also a lead wire compensation circuit for 3- or 4-wire RTDs that would create problems if a single RTD were connected to two different RTD inputs.  There’s just no feasible means of making two RTD analog inputs play nice together.

But all is not lost. There are several ways to achieve your goal.

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