Is there a way to deal with negative binary numbers in LabVIEW?

[H2_O2-PFC Researcher]

I have a Neslab Chiller requiring a binary RS232 interface . Since the temperatures are negative, LabVIEW returns invalid readings due to LabView's inability to handle negative numbers. Any Ideas???

[Alberto]

What you exactly mean with LV inability to handle negative numbers?
When you communicate through RS-232 you use strings, a string containing a negative number can be easily converted to a negative number in LV using the string to number conversion functions.

[Jared 323]

At the most basic level, any RS232 interface is one line in, another line out of serialized bits. No matter what is hooked up to the PC's serial port, if you put a scope there you are going to see 1,0, high, low, +12, -12. These bits are accumulated in the serial buffer and fetched by labview who interprets them as ascii characters. What you need to do is build an intermediate vi that gets the ascii characters from the labview read vi and determine the corrosponding tempature value.
Jared