Jump to content
Sundown Audio

Amp heat & power supply


StuntBoy

Recommended Posts

Where my Rockford Fosgate gurus at 😂


Question about heat amp. How warm should the amp get? Mine warms up on the metal frame. No funny smells or extra heat. It warms up not to hot where I’m not able to touch. The whole frame warms up,but it’s more hot towards the power/protect light. I’ve marked the area. Is that heat/warmth normal? 
 

Amp is a T1500 
 

Also power supply cable how long should it be? I’m running 0 gauge from battery about 12ft to a distribution. From block I’m running 4 gauge about 2ft from block to amp. Is that to shot or it don’t matter?

 

 

AF1D1B07-0DCE-4B0E-9EBE-05800C6E7F66.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Check your power input voltage to stay above 12V at all times, no sudden drops below that, check your gains, engage your subsonic filter, make sure you are wired to 1 ohm or more. See if those help. With amps you always need to be mindful that your electrical is on par or you are going to have issues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All checks good,voltage is above 12v and sub is at 1ohm. Gain is set to little under 2.  Like I said it’s not hot where you can’t touch it. It warms up about normal,just wondering if any one else has thought about it. 
 

Also any input on how long power wire should be? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your power wire should be a long as it needs to be. There's really no way of getting around it. Most wire is rated in 20' increments because after 20' is where you typically start to see a loss in current/ amperage. 

Does the amp get hot after a good while of heavy use? As long as it's not getting dumb hot, it's pretty normal. Is it mounted in an area where it gets plenty of fresh air? Is it mounted upside-down? 

If you're worried about it, it wouldn't be a bad investment to get a little fan to blow cool air on it. Protect your investment. 

2011 Chevy Silverado under construction

My build log here. Check it out! 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How long do you recommend for power wire to be? This system is in my semi,amp is mounted near rear window. I’ve only had system in there for two days.

 

Today I spend all day on phone truck driver problems 😂 I’ve only played like two songs, most of the day volume was at zero. It doesn’t get super hot that you can’t touch it. Just stays warms out of 10 I’d say 5.  
 

I have the same amp in my personal truck,I’ve never paid attention to the warmth of it. But the one on my rig i have since I can touch it from reaching my hand back there. I read that Rockford fosgate amps run hot. Here’s a pic of where it’s mounted. I actually looking at an amp fan now 

EB40B0BB-1BFB-4CC7-A707-92DAA776E238.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, StuntBoy said:

How long do you recommend for power wire to be? This system is in my semi,amp is mounted near rear window. I’ve only had system in there for two days.

 

Today I spend all day on phone truck driver problems 😂 I’ve only played like two songs, most of the day volume was at zero. It doesn’t get super hot that you can’t touch it. Just stays warms out of 10 I’d say 5.  
 

I have the same amp in my personal truck,I’ve never paid attention to the warmth of it. But the one on my rig i have since I can touch it from reaching my hand back there. I read that Rockford fosgate amps run hot. Here’s a pic of where it’s mounted. I actually looking at an amp fan now 

EB40B0BB-1BFB-4CC7-A707-92DAA776E238.jpeg

At 12', you're fine. 

What is the 1/0 from the battery powering? Just that 1 amp? 

2011 Chevy Silverado under construction

My build log here. Check it out! 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, if that 1/0 is going to the fuse block, and then from the fuse block it's 4 awg to the amp, and that's all you're powering, you don't even really need that 1/0 or the distribution block. I mean, you're not hurting anything by having it there, it's just a little unnecessary. 

And the length of the wire doesn't matter as long as you're feeding your amplifier sufficiently. Say you just had 4 awg from the battery to the amp, and it was 30' long, well then you might want to up the size of the wire because at around 20' the wire will start to lose its energy. But, if you have 12' of 1/0, well that's below the 20' threshold that most manufacturers use to rate their wire. 1/0 OFC wire is good for about 350 amps of current at 20'. After 20', that number can start to diminish. So, even if you where just to use 12' of the 4 awg from the battery, you would still easily get plenty of amperage to the amplifier (assuming you're using OFC cable, not CCA). 

2011 Chevy Silverado under construction

My build log here. Check it out! 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes it’s ofc,a Rockford fosgate amp kit. Running 0 gauge to the 4 gauge would that be a reason for the am to run warm then?
 

For the sub wire I’m using 8 gauge cca audiopipe cable.
 

 Is it pulling to much power? Like stated RF amps run warm or do I need to re check everything else

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, StuntBoy said:

Yes it’s ofc,a Rockford fosgate amp kit. Running 0 gauge to the 4 gauge would that be a reason for the am to run warm then?
 

For the sub wire I’m using 8 gauge cca audiopipe cable.
 

 Is it pulling to much power? Like stated RF amps run warm or do I need to re check everything else

 

4 AWG is what the amp terminals are designed for so no, that should not be the reason, however if you measure voltage at the amp terminals while the amp is playing and that voltage drops below 12V then you should find out why is dropping.

 

Flip that infrasonic filter switch on.

 

I wouldn't be surprised this amp heats, it's efficiency at 1 ohm load impedance is 63%, that means nearly 40 percent of the power consumed will turn into heat at the amp itself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Who's Online   1 Member, 0 Anonymous, 394 Guests (See full list)

×
×
  • Create New...