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What Causes Amps to get hot ?


daniel1204

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Hey everyone my mate got a new amp for his sub because he said his got too hot while he was driving, S i got it of him cheap its 1000wrms at 1 ohm i have 2 subs tht are 4 ohm dvc so this is fine so i tested it out in my house today using a 12v power supply its not equivalent to a car battery but sure enough the amp gt hot never shut down but it was only running one sub at 2 ohm and i assume it will get hotter at 1 ohm?? Does poor amount of power cause amps to overheat or is the amp just like that?? I Used an infared temp gun and got about 42-46c (113f) For USA, is this bad or do amps just run hot the amp has a thermal protection so if this does not engage i assume no damage will be done i am just curious to see what happens at 1 ohm

Cheers

I Am Never Wrong, Just Often Mistaken......

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bad voltage can do it, are you sure 1ohm stable? and check gains..

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Well see that's the problem it has 1000w Rms on top of the amp the specs give a rating of 1000w Rms @ 1ohm so I'm a guessing this means it can run at 1 ohm and the power source for the test was lacking so that would be my first cause in my eyes

I Am Never Wrong, Just Often Mistaken......

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Amps get hot because they arent 100% efficient (meaning, electric power (DC) will be converted to electric power (AC) + heat).

By changing your omhms your resistance will go up (switching from 2 to 4 ohm) or down (from 4 to 2 ohm). Less resistance means more power that can by put out (as you can see in the amp specsheet). More power means more heat.

Inside your amp there is a part that changes the amp's internal voltage up (sometimes as much as 100V). That part generates heat and power. If you have a higher battery voltage or a lower ohms rating (because then you dont need as much power) the voltage up chips doesnt have to work as hard, meaning less heat.

Parts which doesnt have to work as hard means a longer lifespan. If a chip runs on a higher temperature for a long time it will wear off faster than a chip on a lower temperature.

Edited by BlackWhizz
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Lots of things cause amps to run hot, or get hotter then normal

Running the amp at a lower impedance then its rated for. (if the amp is 2ohm stable, and you play it at 1 ohm it will run much hotter then it would if it was wired at 2 ohms)

A bad ground - could be a loose crimped terminal, loosely bolted to the car, a bad ground spot, wire to small.

A bad power wire - mostly the same as above, loose crimped terminal, not fully tight to the battery, to small of wire.

Electrical system is too weak for the power the amp wants, so the amp is being starved trying to make power it can not make because the voltage/current is not there.

Having your Gain / Bass Boost set too high and are causing clipping and or distortion, which is making the amp work harder.

It could be a cheaper amp, and when it was put into the heat sink there was little to no thermal paste or pads used to transfer the heat from the mosfets to the heat sink.

Could just straight out be a poorly designed heat sink that does not dissipate the heat good or as fast as it should.

So yea. lots of things can cause the amps to run hot, or over heat, and if the amp is from a good stand up company with quality products, chances are its usually caused by user error.

 

 

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Okay this is very helpful I hope it's not the amp just the guy who wired it up well me and it can be fixed with new knoweledge I find on here every day thanks everyone any more Info would be appreciated :)

I Am Never Wrong, Just Often Mistaken......

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what make/model?

MickyMcD - "Capable of making some serious trouser flapping volumes at where's-my-testicles frequencies, the Servo-Drives used to be fairly jaw dropping..."

Any time you have have a power wire next to your frame put some rubber hosing (or cut up an innertube) around it. The wire is bound to wiggle (due to driving or flex) and the casing will eventually wear through.

Hammerdown... 1%

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bad ground - could be a loose crimped terminal, loosely bolted to the car, a bad ground spot, wire to small.(was a bad ground for me when i experianced this)

Red light rev ya engines..light goes green u take off, petal to the floor.I take it slow but some how seem to catch up with u at he next red.So u think u can do it again.light goes green you stall..i put my foot down just to show u what fast really looks like :)

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