The cool thing about modern thermocouple
sensor/indicator systems is the very low currents
flowing in the thermocouple 'loop'. Back when
thermocouples were used to POWER an instrument
on the panel, the voltages were small but the
currents significant . . . loop resistance had
to be kept LOW and FIXED. Thermocouple wiring
was rather fat. Long runs to measure CHT, EGT
or oil TEMP on the outboard engines of something
like the B29 might have been 18 or even 16AWG.
This was because thermocouples like Type K
Generated only 7.7 MILLIVOLTS off reference
at 190 degrees-C. Your error budget for voltage
drop in wiring was exceedingly small!
Nowadays, the panel mounted instruments are capable
of resolving the 400 or so microvolt difference
between 180 and 190C with a very high input impedance
to the instrument. No need to maintain
very low resistance pathways in the thermocouple
loops You only need to manage parasitic
couples.
The OLC-1 brings like-metals in the T/C loop direcly
in contact with each other . . . no parasitic couples.
So while the OLC-1 splices would be frowned upon
to join wires in a power feeder with significant
current, potential for upsetting the accuracy
in a modern thermocouple instrumentation loop is nil.
Bob . . .