Hi Jkorth,
I suppose if you do not have any other wire available, you could in theory use a thermocouple. However, some care needs to be taken. A thermocouple is made when two wires of different metals are linked at a joint. There will be a resistance, and therefore voltage, difference between the two wires due to their different responses to temperature changes. If you were to cut off the joint, the thermocouple would in essence be two different wires in a sleeve. You could use these wires to connect your strain gauge to the NI 9944, but where you connect the wire to a screw terminal, a voltage offset might be created that you would want to remove in software.
A great document to look at for more information about making connections to the 9944 is the Knowledge Base Document NI 9945 or NI 9944 with an NI 9237 Connection Guide.
I hope this explanation helps, Mallori M.
Mallori M
National Instruments
Sr Group Manager, Education Services
ni.com/training
