Wiring three-wire strain gauges

Understand the wiring of three-wire strain gauges and the original example using two gauges to measure force.

ArchiveOriginally published: Not establishedEditorial review: 20 Sep 2026Maintainer: RehabTools · Ross Allan Clark & collaborators

Editorial review covers presentation and historical context, not full scientific validation or current hardware compatibility.

1 min reference readPreserved from the original RehabTools collectionBrowse related material

Using two strain gauges to detect force

Using two gauges instead of just one gives you much less noise and a better quality signal.
This is from this forum link and works great:
"One white and one black (from different strain gauges) should be E+ and then the remaining white and black to E-; your two red wires should go to A+ and A-."
Dependent on which red you connect to the A+ you will get negative or positive values. You can either swap to get the one you want or just negate the data.

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