Hey, I've got my amp installed behind the rear passenger's seat. My amp overheats occasionally and shuts off (for safety). It's gotta be from the poor air cirulation back there. I'm going to fix it so the rear flap doesn't rest against it, but I was wondering if a cooling fan(s) would alleviate that. If so, what kind of cooling fan(s) or extra heat sink would be ideal that I could wire into the amp, or run power back to it somehow.

What do others do for cooling down your amp? And how do you attach it back there, and what about power for it?

Also, is there a better spot to install the amp where it's still concealed?

 

what kind of amp?
how much power is it pushing?
where behind the rear seat?

 

Amp: http://www.edesignaudio.com/edv2/pro...products_id=46

Power? I dunno. Just pushing as much as I turn the volume on the stock HU.

It's installed on the seat behind the rear passenger. You know the flap in the trunk that folds down with the seat? It rests aginst the amp if I don't keep it down.

 

from what you say its mounted on the back seat, you might want to make it level. a lot of people put it in the cubby in the back or you can take out the foam in the spare tire and put it there. the thing is its mounted so any airflow that goes in doesn't render the heat sink useful. Try it in the cubby or in the spare tire and if that doesn't work get some small pc case fans and wire them to a relay to the remote wire so that when the amp turns on the fans turn on

 

Yeah, someone else mentioned using computer air fans, but that just seemd a bit futile. I mean, I would think that I'd need like 10 of those fans to actually do any cooling. My amp was so hot last time, that if I touched it for longer than a second or 2, I would have burned myself. It gets REALLY hot.

But thanks for the advice on placement. I may try that instead. I just didn't think there was room for the spare and the amp. But I'll check it out.

I didn't think that it really matter if it's mounted vertical or horizontal. But I guess it does.

 

but all it needs is slight airflow so one or two computer fans work great. thats realy all you would need.

 

hmm i have mine mounted at the same place... i haven't had mine shut off yet, but then again i just put it in yesterday, and haven't really pushed it... i usually drive with my windows down though, so i guess some air should get back there

 

Is it bridged? Also, how long does it take to go into protect? The reason I ask is because I am running that same amp (bridged) and I have the same problem. It usually takes a couple of hours of torture before mine shuts off. It never happens during daily driving but on some longer road trips I have issues.

 

Yes lil_will, the sub is bridged. I have the front speakers on A and B, and C and D are bridged going to the sub. True that it was in the upper 80's that day, and I was running it with the windows down but it shut off after only an hour. (I was pushing it kinda hard though) But I think it was because at the time, I had the flap back there directly against it. I think when I bolt it down (not sure how/if I'm doing it that way), it should help out.

 

Yeah, I have mine on the backseat as well. I removed the cover though. I am not worried about mine because I have a new box/amp rack on the way and the amps will be exposed. You should try some of those cooling fans, they work pretty good.

 

will what are you going to be running?

 

Im gonna be running the same system, I am just getting a fiberglass box/amp rack.

 

you may want to just check your amp regardless cause i have my amp placed in the exact spot and mine hasn't overheated yet. hopefully it doesn't but i dont think that its the spot you put it in is bad

 

Is your amp bridged? They tend to get hotter faster when they are bridged.

 

So it's mounted to the rear seat like kind of past vertical style?

 

mine is passed vertical.

 

In regards the the case fans, they actually move a good bit of air! The only thing would be where would you mount them?

 

Yeah, with the amps on the seats, I'm just not sure where you'd put a fan that wouldn't look really tacky.

In my first install I had 4 fans 2 push 2 pull across my amps since I was running an RF 360a2 at 2 ohms...bridged...you could probably cook things on it.

 

Im not an audio fan. So Mandos correct me if I am wrong. But a huge cause of overheating is wiring it to load that is not suitable for the amp.
Some amps can run at 2 ohms, some can run at .5 ohms.
Different wiring configurations (bridged, Series, parallel, Series/parallel, Dual sub setups, DVC setups) will all change the load you are putting on the amp.

Check to see what the amp is stable at, then post up what you are powering and how it is wired.

 

My amps...well at least the ones I sell. I've done exactly what the guys here are doing and beat the ____ out of a Nine.4, hell I was pulling around 250W out of the rear channels bridged without heat issues.

Let me make a drawing quick:



I realize how horrible looking it is, but I'm just trying to illustrate a point BTW, the amp there is mounted at 20 degrees past vertical(tC seats in their "upright" position).

The little boxes are FETs which get really hot and that is why they are attached to the heatsink...the red umm...glass portion is heat. Notice on the fets lining what is the bottom heatsink are just dissapating heat into the rest of the amplifier rather than through the heatsink...this is why an amp mounted vertical or past vertical may overheat.

Because heat rises, it's mostly being turned into a higher ambeint temp inside the amp instead of heat in the heatsink. A heatsink getting hot isn't necessarily bad, it means it's doing its job well.