I’m starting to plan a new panel on my wagon and one thing I felt I for sure wanted to remove was the mechanical oil pressure gauge. Reason being is it’s another potential source of an oil leak.

Its the one I'd be keeping mechanical over anything else, plus a tach but that's just my take on it. Do what makes you comfortable in the event of a total electrical failure.

Is there an engine monitor that runs for a limited period of time on some sort of standby, internal battery. The AV30's I have installed can run on an internal battery long enough to get safely to the ground. Some of the other digital EHSI/EADI products do as well but I'm not aware of and engine monitor that offers this feature.

At some point I'll be installing some sort of digital engine monitor.
I plan on keeping the mechanical oil pressure gauge, "just in case",
and teeing the digital sensor off the oil pressure line at the gauge.

Ross4289 wrote:I’m starting to plan a new panel on my wagon and one thing I felt I for sure wanted to remove was the mechanical oil pressure gauge. Reason being is it’s another potential source of an oil leak.

Having had to repair a few oil pressure guages that leaked all over the back 9f the panel I agree with this. I prefer to keep all my oil in front of the firewall. Add a second electric one for redundancy if you like, but I don't want oil line behind my panel anymore.

I like the idea of keeping the mechanical tach too, because it responds instantly, unlike a number on a screen.

Same goes for fuel flow. But again it would be nice to eliminate the tiny fuel line coming into the cabin.

When I first started flying Huskys, I'd never flown digital electronic tachometers before. The flickering was annoying for about ten minutes, then I ignored it.

My Cessna 170 tachometer needed to be overhauled. So, I had it rebuilt. Once it was re-installed, I flew it with a digital tach checker, and it was 75 rpm off. I called BS on that. Instrument guys said up to 100 rpm error is acceptable on a mechanical tach. So, I ordered a brand new mechanical tach and installed it. Flew it with the tach checker, and guess what? It was almost 100 rpm off.

I sent that thing back and ordered a Horizon digital tachometer. And, I've used digital tachs in everything I've flown since, except the no electrics Cub. The digital tachs are right on, and NO cable to bind up, wear, etc.

Consider what a 100 rpm or even a 50 rpm difference makes in your fuel burn, power on takeoff, etc, etc.

I much prefer digital instruments....I agree that oil and fuel in the cockpit is a bad idea on several levels, but I much prefer the accuracy of the digital instrumentation. And, at least in my experience, they are reliable.

MTV

I'm with MTV. I also don't understand the idea that a digital instrument has lag. If anything I'd bet they have faster response time then analog. At the very least I'd doubt you'd be able to notice a difference from analog to digital. Add to it that digital will almost always be more accurate it really is win win.

I fly a lot of Cirrus’s, and all have digital everything. Some of the older ones have analog gauges as well, but are all driven off electric sending units.

The analog gauges are way faster for mag checks, setting RPM, and especially fuel flow.

It’s not a huge deal, but waiting for the computer to “catch up” and display the correct number can be mildly annoying.

That said I’ll probably end up getting rid of all the mechanical gauges for cleanliness and simplicity’s sake.

Ross4289 wrote:I fly a lot of Cirrus’s, and all have digital everything. Some of the older ones have analog gauges as well, but are all driven off electric sending units.

The analog gauges are way faster for mag checks, setting RPM, and especially fuel flow.

It’s not a huge deal, but waiting for the computer to “catch up” and display the correct number can be mildly annoying.

That said I’ll probably end up getting rid of all the mechanical gauges for cleanliness and simplicity’s sake.

Very interesting. I wonder if the bigger all glass setups are more that way? I k ow my EI on my 206 has no noticeable lag. I can watch the instrument as I touch the control and it readings change immediately. Not like I set my throttle then look down and wait a couple seconds for it to catch up...

A1Skinner wrote:

Ross4289 wrote:I fly a lot of Cirrus’s, and all have digital everything. Some of the older ones have analog gauges as well, but are all driven off electric sending units.

The analog gauges are way faster for mag checks, setting RPM, and especially fuel flow.

It’s not a huge deal, but waiting for the computer to “catch up” and display the correct number can be mildly annoying.

That said I’ll probably end up getting rid of all the mechanical gauges for cleanliness and simplicity’s sake.

Very interesting. I wonder if the bigger all glass setups are more that way? I k ow my EI on my 206 has no noticeable lag. I can watch the instrument as I touch the control and it readings change immediately. Not like I set my throttle then look down and wait a couple seconds for it to catch up...

Same here with a couple different JPI units. Never noticed any lag. I have a vernier throttle in this 175, and it’s very noticeable how quick the MP responds with the most minute movement of the throttle.

MTV

The JPI fuel flow gauge in my 185 is also similarly slow to the Cirrus Avidyne and G1000 ones.

I’m often yanking the mixture back to LOP quickly right after leveling out, and trying to hit a specific fuel flow without going too lean and stuttering the engine. I’ve been using the analog gauge to get “close” (which reads 2gph off) then fine tuning with the JPI.

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The newer G1000 version (NXI) is better, but still not as fast as a needle for some reason.