this weekend, 93 degrees, after an hour of continous play time, i touched the amps...D@MN nearly burnt my fingers. Mine are mounted on the back of the box. So really no air circulation gets to them. For now i am leaving the rear seat folded down..How do u guys keep the amps cool, especially in the summer??

 

I have a fan that blows across mine. It's a 12VDC PC fan from radio shack. I have a relay set up to use the amp turn on lead to turn on the fan.

 

There is nothing you can do really. pc fans dont do anything but make noise. unless its a cooler running class d amp its gonna get really hot sitting between a seat and a box. Your idea is the best thing to do in the summer and its hits harder anyways so theres no downside

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I think i will just keep the seat folded down

 

How so? Mine used to overheat all the time, now it doesn't. How is the fan not doing anything?

 

Talk about hot, its 110 here in Phoenix. My amp is always pretty hot to the touch when on, and if my car has been sitting in the parking lot for a while, if I touch my amp, its as hot as it would be if I were running it for a few hours straight. Luckily it has a built in cooling fan and it hasn't shut down or anything. I blast the AC and keep the middle console on the seat folded down, I get better bass that way believe it or not.

 

so do all amps overheat?

 

im running x2 cooling fans on my sub amp and x1 on my highs amp. Both stay lightly-warm to the touch even after a 30min trip to work with it slamming
and yes they are run off a relay so i wont fry out my remote line

Ant

 

can u plz post how to wire a relay?? i want one for my amps as well, right now they are on the remote line.
thanks

 

It's a comon problem with low grade and some mid grade amps in the summer, but even high end amps with no internal fans do it at some point if your on a long drive in the summer. Fans work to push the heat away and help, full cooling systems are better, but unless you take the install to a better level you can't really set it up in a clean way.

 

better have fire extinguisher with you at all times...

 

No, only certain high wattage ones. I know Rockford Fosgates are notorious for that. I used to have a couple RF 800a2 amps, and they got HOT

 

very easy:

30: 12v input (constant)
87: output (remote line out to amps and fans)
86: input (remote line in from radio)
85: ground

Ant

 

I installed a kill switch for the amp in the cab. Just spliced b/w the 12V power with an illuminated rocker switch. Since its illuminated, it needs to be grounded. Got the switch at V-Sales. This place has some pretty cool stuff for Custom Van conversions....imagine some of these things applied in a MAX! So many ideas... Anyway, it allows you to keep the rest of the system jamming ( in my case, the '01 Bose setup) while you let the amp cool. Search for mini-rocker switch on the site. It fit into one of the place holder accessory panels in the '01 by cutting a 1/2" x 3/4" hole. I'll post some pics if your interested...

 

plz do post some pics, cause i can't picture it in my head

 

and where i can i buy a relay? are there certain ones that are better than the others??
thanks

 

go to BestBuy and by the ones they carry. I use them all the time when installing alarms and other things. Bosch makes them i think we sell them for like $14.99 with wire harness.

Ant

 

Hey check out this page. Its worth a look. It has some ideas on cooling fans in amp racks. http://www.eatel.net/~amptech/elecdisc/caraudio.htm

 

Yep that why most of them shut down at certain temps so they don't burn out