1.

> Looking through the manual, I found a recommendation (pg10) that the "IN-" terminal of the Acromag ADC units be tied to the "RTN" pins on the same units. I don't know if this preserves the differential receiving capability of the Acromag ADCs

I suppose, we loose the differential capability of an input if the -IN is connected to whatever defined potential. We should check if the channels are still working as a true differential or not.

2. If the multi bit operation is too complicated to solve, we can use EPICS Calc channels to breakout a value to bits and send the individual bits as same as the other individual binary channels.