Hi Tom,
Thank you for your information and follow up on this problem. I was able to make the sensors work, I had to recalculate the formulas in my sketch but they are functioning now. I am taking 1 reading every 100 milliseconds and every third read I only use the largest value of the three and take three more readings. This, while slow, gives me good information to go on.
The problem I had was a "misprint" on LinkSprites RedBack board. It only has 3v output, but when you use USB to power it the 5v output pin does output 5v. But powering the board through the regulated RAW pin cuts power down to 3v on all output pins. To solve the issue I attempted to use a 5v regulated power supply and the USB VCC and Ground pins. This blew the board when the spec sheet says that this is supported. I had to order another RedBack board from LinkSprite, not sure what to do about the broken one..