What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Old School Hobbs with Glass?

dmat

Well Known Member
Advertiser
converting to all glass and wanted to know what folks are doing to replace the hobbs? I know g3x has one setup in there but wanted to see if anyone is using the old hobbs meter as well?

Can anyone tell Im having a tough time letting go of the old stuff ;)

D
 
If you have room there's no problem with installing a Hobbs meter in a glass panel. We are asked to put one in a fair number of panels we build here at SteinAir.
 
Both

Have a traditional Hobbs installed along with my Dynon Skyview which has it's own Hobbs function. Belt and suspenders I guess.
 
Converting to a glass panel on an existing flying airplane, I may keep the Hobbs if I already had it. I would not add the Hobbs on a new airplane glass panel where I had to spend money to go buy it.
 
Last edited:
my Plan

My plan is to put an old fashion hobbs in with my garmin panel. Just so I know if my kids "borrowed" my plane. I think it would be nice to have the hours always displayed, even with the panel off. Now making the two match? that will be the hard part.
 
When I built my -6A, I put a Hobbs in the sub panel and the Advanced engine monitor with its glass display Hobbs is front and center. At the time, I was not sure how reliable all the glass was going to be so I wanted a little bit of an alternate path. Turns out there have been no issues at all with the glass.

I will say it is convent to look at the "electro mechanical" Hobbs without having to turn on the Master.
 
Yes we do.

Yes we did it for a number of reasons. We like to be able to check the actual engine run time for the most part. The Hobbs is what we use to tell us when to change the engine oil. We have a Garmin G3X touch panel, but I find that the Hobbs meter is not affected or tide to anything in the PFD or panel. It is on a it's own individual power supply and regardless of anything it will tell us quicker and more reliably when the engine has oil pressure, so it is also an oil pressure gage back-up. If you have a good Hobbs, just look at the far right side of the readings and you will see a little black and white wheel. That wheel will start ticking and turning as soon as there is more that just a few pounds of pressure in the oil passages. I also use it to log my flight time, just like in the old trainers you flew. I wright the Hobbs time before engine start on my knee pad along with fuel levels and weight and then after engine shut-down I mark the time again. I know what the FAR's say, but this is an old and still accepted practice. I do look at the EFIS, Hobbs time and flight time every now and then, but they are more of a distraction than a need to thing. Sure I would do it the same in anything we own. Just the way we do ours. Hope this helps. Yours, R.E.A. III # 80888

P.S. It is on a kick panel down on the right side next to the ELT remote so we don't forget that thing as well. You don't have to put it on the panel in front of you.
 
Last edited:
I updated my panel 200 hours ago and left the old Hobbs meter in place (needed something to fill the hole). Originally had a fancy relay that only ran the Hobbs when oil pressure was there, but now runs whenever the Master is on. After all this time, the Hobbs only reads about 1 hour more than the G3X shows.

And it is convenient to see it when the EFIS is off.
 
I have both and I think it's a benefit in case the settings in the Skyview are erased or reset somehow. My Hobbs is connected to my alternator field switch so it's dead on with the hours shown on the Skyview
 
Back
Top