Yea that's right, I also want to increase air flow in the trunk of my maxima. My amp keeps over heating due to lack of circulation. You'd think Nissan was making a mobster car because the trunk of my 91 Maxima could hold 2 bodies, and is so air tight and solid that nobody would know. That's fantastic if you're a criminal into that kinda thing. I however, am not. I have my 10 inch sony explode sub run on a Kenwood(i know i know) 350 competition amp. However, it over heats like a fat kid in the hundred meters. I need a serious solution. I do love however that you cant hear the sub OUTSIDE of the car because the trunk is so thick. All the sound stays in the main passenger compartment. Makes for an nearly acousticly perfect sound.

 

Are you sure there isn't anything wrong with the amp, because a lot of people do not have these problems. Also I couldn't think of a way of getting air in the trunk that would be effective in cooling the amps while driving.

 

The amp is all in working order, it's bridged and worked before. Now the sub cuts out as I am driving, when I turn the power off for a few minutes then turn it back on, it continues to work.

I ran the sub until it cut out once in my driveway to see, I swear I could have cooked a full breakfast on it after.

 

Its not the trunk design making your subs overheat there must be something wrong, I know a couple of people who ran subs with amps in the trunk and they never had overheating problems. I would get it checked out by a professional stereo place before attempting anything.

 

I was thinking of runnin a small power cord, maybe the size of your remote wire (20 gauge) and getting a large computer case fan and attaching it to the heat sink on the amp.

 

See, I would, but honestly, it was in my old 1988 VW Scirocco (R.I.P good buddy) like maybe 2 weeks ago, working fine. The reason I think it's the trunk is that's the ONLY thing that's changed. Same battery, same deck, same speakers, same wiring, only thing that changed was I know have a trunk instead of a hatch.

 

remove the cardboard seperator and leave your armrest down

 

Then the more power to you installing that computer case fan, tell me if it fixed the problem.

 

how much access to air space does the amp have? Is it mounted with the heat sinks close to one side or in between your box and the front or back of the trunk?

you might have it too close to something with no way for the air in the immediate vicinity to get cool. I would imagine that all of the air in your big ol' gangsta trunk isn't 300 degrees.

I would try a fan if it's getting that hot. I would also think about buying an amp that you don't have to bridge, so it stays cool. Especially one that isn't a Kenwood.

It still seems a little strange that it gets so hot. If you get an amp that hot and have done this a lot, it is probably getting time to replace it. I had a smaller Alpine V-12 amp (can't remember the model number now) running bridged crammed behind the seat of a regular cab Nissan 4x4 and it never got so hot it cut out.

Good Luck

 

Thanks for the tips.

I have it mounted as a thiefs dream. I just mounted it onto the actual sub box in order to help it get flow, kinda helped, but not much.

 

or build a litle scoop underneathe the spare wheel well and open the drain plug and feed a tube through it. ram air for your trunk!! but like everyone else said you shouldnt need better ventilation if everything is hooked up right

 

I'm running 5 amps in my trunk and have zero problems with overheating or airflow.

how long is it taking before the amp shuts off from heat? I'd say you've got a wiring problem... what's the impedance loads the amp is rated to run, and what load is the sub presenting to it? I'd make a wild guess and say that's too low of an impedance for the amp.

as for ways to get air in and out, if you'll pull the carpet out on the sides, or crawl under the car, there's vents in either side of the bottom rear corners of the trunk. remove the 1-way flaps in there, then set it up to circulare are through the trunk.

 

It varys between cut outs. I don't understand why the wiring would be screwed up, seriously it's the EXACT same wiring kit, and everything (deck, speakers, front speakers and sub and AMP) are all the same from my previous car. Placed in the exact same manor.

If the amp got jostled(sp?) in the move, could that have ****ed the wiring? I don't think a short can happen over time, it just shorts, right?

 

i have an amp mounted onto the box and it works just fine, even with the insane houston heat. plus my max is dark gray and that doesn't help with the car's cooling either.

you can try removing that plastic and cardboard behind the armrest. that way, when the armrest is down you can see right into the trunk. perhaps that get some air circulating (if it is a heat issue ,which i highly doubt)

 

back to my questions... what impedance is the sub? how is it wired to the amp? what are the impedance capabilities of the amp?

what size fuse is on the amp, and what size power cable are you using? I'm going to take a wild guess and say a 350W amp has a 35 or 40A fuse. you should be running 8awg MINIMUM. anything smaller and you might as well take a match to your car, cause that's what you're doing. 4 awg is recommended for line lengths this long.

 

I don't remember the impedance. I apologize.

The amp uses a 25 fuse. And it;s wired with 8awg because that's all that would fit. I ran the wire through the front left 1/4 panel and in through the little hole behind the drivers door. Then under the carpet and an 8awg wouldn't fit in the hole.

 

why not run the power wire thorugh the firewall?? I easily ran 4awg(might have been 2, can't remember) through my firewall hole on my old Max.

 

There isn't a hole in my firewall, and I couldn't get my drill in the ONLY place I could drill one.

 

Bah... I've got 1/0 cable in there, plus another 1/2" hole drilled for misc applications (gauge wiring, alarm, etc.)

the wire size sounds fine. if you're not blowing the 25A fuse and running 8 awg wire, you'll be okay. I still put my money on improper setup on impedance matching though.

 

Really, you used that little black trimmed hole to the left of the door when you open it? I had to return the 2 and 4 awg because it was too thick. 8 Fits fine. I was also thinking of drilling a hole into my firwall for other things, possibly like a fan if I need it.


How do I check impedance?