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Sundown Audio

Amp gets quite hot.


gmoxley1

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So I just installed my new (to me) sundown saz-1200d and got all the correct size wire. (sky high 4 ga) big three and power/ground wire. Properly fused.

Since it was new to me and I've yet to dd-1 or cc-1 so I was trying to play it safe and go to the volume I always use on my head unit (Kenwood excelon) 27 out of 35. And turn up the gain til I thought I heard distortion and then back it down significantly just in case. Bass boost is on zero! Subsonic is set to somewhere around 30ish and the low pass is set to 85 on the head unit. Bass boost on deck is also set to zero. loudness is on zero. Bass level is on zero. Subwoofer level one 0 (range is from -15 to +15)

So I was excited to get it in obviously and I start jamming on it and it starts getting fairly warm so I turn the volume down to average listening level. Got to check it again and it was even hotter. So I think hmmm might be the ground because the ground is just grounded to the body (paint was thoroughly removed).

At this point I turned the volume all the way down to like 5 or 6 (out of 35) and it still got hotter but never went into protect.

So I get home and just out of curiosity I set the gain all the way down and play music on a average level like 18 out of 35 and it still got crazy hot after a while. Now I've never used sundown amps before but every review and video I've seen has shown them to perform quite cool even when being hammered on so now I'm just confused.

Oh and the subs are two Rockford p2's wired to 1 ohm and verified by a DMM so it's not an impedance issue.

Any advice would be appreciated! Oh and I'm not sure who the previous owner was but I got it refurbished from db-r.

-Greg

1998 chevy blazer 4 door

stock alt 105a

Battery: Autocraft Gold 75-3

Big Three in Sky High Car Audio 4ga

subs: rockford p2 12's (soon to be sundown SA 12's)

Sundown SAZ-1200d on the subs

Mids and Highs: Infinity kappa 6.5 mid in front doors and tweets in Dash 

sae 50.4 for mids and highs

SMD OM-1 on the subs

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Where is the amp located and how is it positioned?

If this is in the blazer in your signature there is absolutely no reason you should use the body as ground, you have a full frame use it.

Pics might help.

That being said a lot of people's definition of "music" is a clipped 30 hz sine wave with some 80 IQ knuckle head grunting about committing crimes and his genitals.

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Redo your ground and see if it still gets hot...that would be my guess though...Some amps to run hot but not sure on the sundowns

Will do asap. But still even at almost zero volume on the head unit would a ground cause it to heat up that much? I know it's not an awesome ground, but it's not the worst either.

1998 chevy blazer 4 door

stock alt 105a

Battery: Autocraft Gold 75-3

Big Three in Sky High Car Audio 4ga

subs: rockford p2 12's (soon to be sundown SA 12's)

Sundown SAZ-1200d on the subs

Mids and Highs: Infinity kappa 6.5 mid in front doors and tweets in Dash 

sae 50.4 for mids and highs

SMD OM-1 on the subs

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Where is the amp located and how is it positioned?

If this is in the blazer in your signature there is absolutely no reason you should use the body as ground, you have a full frame use it.

Pics might help.

As of now the amp is on the back on the back seat with seats folded down. I planned to changing the ground to the frame but just to get the amp up and running I thought the body would have been good enough just to test it out but I guess not.

It gets hot enough after about 10 to 15 minutes of very low volume that I can't keep my hand on it for more than about 5 seconds.

I'll get pics asap

1998 chevy blazer 4 door

stock alt 105a

Battery: Autocraft Gold 75-3

Big Three in Sky High Car Audio 4ga

subs: rockford p2 12's (soon to be sundown SA 12's)

Sundown SAZ-1200d on the subs

Mids and Highs: Infinity kappa 6.5 mid in front doors and tweets in Dash 

sae 50.4 for mids and highs

SMD OM-1 on the subs

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If its drawing that much current, how's the voltage drop?

Measure at the alt/batteries, then at the amp.

Have a current clamp?

What size fuse is on the amp?

Is there any DC coming out of the amp output? Doubtful as the subs would get damaged but that might be one way its dumping current.

Put your DMM on the amps output while playing a moderate test tone and look for DC voltage.

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Did you use the DMM you used to check the impedance to also check for continuity in the ground before using it? With access to a DMM I would have made that step one of location for the amp.

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Sorry I haven't posted more about the amp getting hot. I'll get pics asap. I've been having some transmission trouble and it takes priority over the system right now haha. But as soon as I fix the trans I'll be relocating the ground directly to the frame. Just got to get a grommet to run the wire through.

1998 chevy blazer 4 door

stock alt 105a

Battery: Autocraft Gold 75-3

Big Three in Sky High Car Audio 4ga

subs: rockford p2 12's (soon to be sundown SA 12's)

Sundown SAZ-1200d on the subs

Mids and Highs: Infinity kappa 6.5 mid in front doors and tweets in Dash 

sae 50.4 for mids and highs

SMD OM-1 on the subs

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