Hey guys,
Well driving 2 hours today in 30 degree heat with my music going at a decent level has caused my sub amp to overheat. It's all working good now so it's obviously just the heat protection mode kicking in. My question is, have people done anything to enhance cooling for their amps?
I was thinking of maybe robbing some old pc power supplies of thier fans and somehow mounting them in front of the amp and hooking them up to say the remote wire or something to the amps, they would use much of a current would they? They run off 12v DC so they should work alright? Any other ideas?
Cheers :).

Has it got room to breath? Maybe some spacers could help.

Other than that;
* submerge it in oil
* strap it to your grill
* run a CAI pipe
* ... :dancin:

hmmmm how are your amps mounted?
vertical or horizontal?
what size power wire you running?
are your amps in your boot?
i crank my system and leave it cranked for about 20 mins and my amps dont overheat, they just get to normal running temp and there fine after that

What i did for my brothers amp was get a relay switch and hook 2 PC fans up to it facing the amp. Before the amp used to get really hot ( couldnt keep your hand on it for more than 4 seconds) and after the fans, it was nice and cool.

Plenty of room to breathe

hmmmm how are your amps mounted?
vertical or horizontal?
what size power wire you running?
are your amps in your boot?
i crank my system and leave it cranked for about 20 mins and my amps dont overheat, they just get to normal running temp and there fine after that
1) Vertical, The amp is mounted to an MDF board which is kinda wedged into the back side of the boot behind the tailights.
2)4guage, it's a 1200w max amp, so that should be plenty. Doubt it's a cabling issue as it only overheats on hot days, plus i was driving for prob about an hour and a half pumping it before it overheated.
3)yeh in the boot mounted as above

What i did for my brothers amp was get a relay switch and hook 2 PC fans up to it facing the amp. Before the amp used to get really hot ( couldnt keep your hand on it for more than 4 seconds) and after the fans, it was nice and cool.
Yeh mine was very hot to touch after it overheated. How did you mount the fans infront of the amp?

Plenty of room to breathe

1) Vertical, The amp is mounted to an MDF board which is kinda wedged into the back side of the boot behind the tailights.
2)4guage, it's a 1200w max amp, so that should be plenty. Doubt it's a cabling issue as it only overheats on hot days, plus i was driving for prob about an hour and a half pumping it before it overheated.
3)yeh in the boot mounted as above

is that the only amp running off of the 4ga? or have you got a 4ch amp aswell
and yes the wrong sized power cable can make the amps overheat as in my mates car his amps would get really hot but after i upgraded his power cable the amps are running fine :D
what amps are you running?
have they got heatsinks?

is that the only amp running off of the 4ga? or have you got a 4ch amp aswell
and yes the wrong sized power cable can make the amps overheat as in my mates car his amps would get really hot but after i upgraded his power cable the amps are running fine :D
what amps are you running?
have they got heatsinks?
Yes i have a 4 ch but that's running off it's own power cable. What i mean is 4ga is heaps for a 1200watt max amp (prob only around 3-600wrms maximum
The amp is a BOSS audio 1200w max, yeh i know boss audio = cheap but it runs my subs beautifully and this heat issue is the only issue i have with it and is non-existent in autumn and winter. The other amp is a jaycar 4x130wrms.
From memory the boss amp is fancooled, but obviously not fan cooled enough :).

fan cooled amps arent that good as that cant get rid of most of the heat that they produce
how high are your gains?
maybe turn the gains down abit so that the amp doesnt have to work as hard to produce power
also maybe leave your ski port open so the air flows through

Yeh mine was very hot to touch after it overheated. How did you mount the fans infront of the amp?

We had a false floor so i just wedged the fans inbetween the false floor and the wood that the amp was bolted on to.

From memory the boss amp is fancooled, but obviously not fan cooled enough :).

Most amps do take quite a bit of temperature to go into thermal protection...but then again its a BOSS amp (no offence).

i was about to say boss amps had a fan on them lol. Easiest way is to use a PC fan, but they tend to be a tad noisey (some) and ugly esp if you have your amp wedged on the side. Maybe you could try and fit some behind ur tailight blowing onto the amp, somewhere out of the way where nobody can see. Just go grab a cheap 12V relay to hook it up.

I don't think boss amps really have any sort of heat sink, they just have a fan and shiny chrome chassis. Another alternative is u could just rip the cover off the amp, and have its guts all visible...and add fans.

Another one is if you are feeling brave, change the internal fan to something more powerful...

You could but a bit hole in your boot and put a radiator fan there and cool your boot down lol

fan cooled amps arent that good as that cant get rid of most of the heat that they produce
how high are your gains?
maybe turn the gains down abit so that the amp doesnt have to work as hard to produce power
also maybe leave your ski port open so the air flows through
Gains are only on half, have to be up fairly high to keep up with the jaycar amp. Skiport is/was open but the sub box sits up there so most of it's blocked off with not much room for air to breathe through into the boot, both driver side and passenger side windows were slightly down so some air should have gone into the boot, not much though. The boot was warm enough to totally melt down a timtam, if that's any indication of how hot it was in the boot.


Most amps do take quite a bit of temperature to go into thermal protection...but then again its a BOSS amp (no offence).

i was about to say boss amps had a fan on them lol. Easiest way is to use a PC fan, but they tend to be a tad noisey (some) and ugly esp if you have your amp wedged on the side. Maybe you could try and fit some behind ur tailight blowing onto the amp, somewhere out of the way where nobody can see. Just go grab a cheap 12V relay to hook it up.

I don't think boss amps really have any sort of heat sink, they just have a fan and shiny chrome chassis. Another alternative is u could just rip the cover off the amp, and have its guts all visible...and add fans.

Another one is if you are feeling brave, change the internal fan to something more powerful...

You could but a bit hole in your boot and put a radiator fan there and cool your boot down lol
lol yeh i know, obviously being a boss amp it's not going to be as good, but for what i paid for it and the job it's doing, i no complain :). Mounting the fan behind the taillight is actually a pretty darn good idea! Might have to try that one.
Yeh they are shiny but i wouldn't be game enough to start pulling things off it.
Is it easy to hook up a pc power supply? There's no secret way of hooking it up just the standard power to power, ground to ground? Do they draw much current?

We had a false floor so i just wedged the fans inbetween the false floor and the wood that the amp was bolted on to.
Ah ok fair enough. I was thinking of mounting some mdf so that it stood up from the bottom of the board and then just mounting the pc fans onto that, but i like eeks idea.

Eventually i plan on putting 1 sub behind each tail light facing towards the cabin, and mounting the amps up near the ski port, dunno if this would help this issue or not?

**** you gotta be joking if your boot is getting that hot :shock:,
yeah i would just wire up a couple of 2" fans around the amp somewhere
you might have to run the power wire back towards the dash as i dont think theres any type of consitant power in the boot, but i may be wrong

do u have a pic of ur boot instal??

Just remember the fan will also need 'some' room to suck air in order to blow...and no, don't bother with a PC power supply, use a 12 volt SPDT relay. Commonly known as a 'horn realy' hop into super cheap, autobarn, jaycar etc etc...looks like a little black thing with 5 pins on the bottom.

I've forgotten which pin corresponds to what, but basically, wire one pin to your amp 'remote' wire, one to your 4ga power cable, one to the ground and one to the 12V+ of the fan, then ground your fan. This acts as a switch so your fan will turn on whenever your amps are on. DO NOT power the fan direcly from the remote wire off the amp, you'll blow ur headunit.


EDIT: Relay pins:

30 - to the 12V source (amp power cable/distro block)
87 - to the 12V positive of fan(s)
85 - Ground
86 - remote wire from head unit
don't worry about the left over pin..

for the PC fan there are 3 wires
black = ground
red = remote
yellow = power

pc fans should just be a garden variety DC fan...wire it the other way around, and it spins the other way around, so it sucks instead of blowing...

hehe suck blow suck blow suck blow hahhahaha

**** you gotta be joking if your boot is getting that hot :shock:,
yeah i would just wire up a couple of 2" fans around the amp somewhere
you might have to run the power wire back towards the dash as i dont think theres any type of consitant power in the boot, but i may be wrong
lol well was 30 degrees today on an open road ;).

do u have a pic of ur boot instal??

Just remember the fan will also need 'some' room to suck air in order to blow...and no, don't bother with a PC power supply, use a 12 volt SPDT relay. Commonly known as a 'horn realy' hop into super cheap, autobarn, jaycar etc etc...looks like a little black thing with 5 pins on the bottom.

I've forgotten which pin corresponds to what, but basically, wire one pin to your amp 'remote' wire, one to your 4ga power cable, one to the ground and one to the 12V+ of the fan, then ground your fan. This acts as a switch so your fan will turn on whenever your amps are on. DO NOT power the fan direcly from the remote wire off the amp, you'll blow ur headunit.


EDIT: Relay pins:

30 - to the 12V source (amp power cable/distro block)
87 - to the 12V positive of fan(s)
85 - Ground
86 - remote wire from head unit
don't worry about the left over pin..
Ok so i'm using a pc fan, but using this relay to power it instead of the power supply?

lol well was 30 degrees today on an open road ;).

Ok so i'm using a pc fan, but using this relay to power it instead of the power supply?

in short..yes

the relay is a switc that allows u to use power from another source.

in short..yes

the relay is a switc that allows u to use power from another source.
Yeh that's what i meant :). Use the power from my amp but use the remote wire as a switch, actually the same way the amp would work ey?
Will give it a whirl, where's the best place to buy some cheap pc fans? :P.

your local computer shop would be your best bet
or may be even try ebay :confused:

i have a mono under the drivers seat, running 4 x 12's in the boot and pump it hard, i have no overheating problems, the d class amps run pretty cool...:D

Yeh that's what i meant :). Use the power from my amp but use the remote wire as a switch, actually the same way the amp would work ey?
Will give it a whirl, where's the best place to buy some cheap pc fans? :P.

Go to mp3car.com or Caraudioaustralia.com.au For maybe some backup on your ideas.

Post your ideas up there and they should be able to give you a definitave answer.
But i dont see why your idea wouldnt work, hooking some fans up to the remote wire, seems logical to me

You might want to look at sme of these fans, http://pccasegear.com.au/category9_1.htm

The LED fans would look good in a bot if your worried about the looks.

I have an evercool aluminium around here somewhere, it's broken but it would look good to.

Oh and thast big sunnon fan, I know it says it will pump a lot of air, and it does, but god damn it's loud, and it will hurt if you stick your finger in it :P

I put my amps under the front seats.

Then when I want some serious doof doof I just send the aircon downwards and it keeps them at a reasonable level and prevents the cutoff.

also depends on the brand of your amps, cheaper amps dont come with inbuilt fans, i had the same problem my amp used to get so hot you couldnt touch it. so i took off the back plate and drilled to 10cm diameter holes in it one at each end, then on the inside of the back plate i mounted a 12V CPU fan and airfilter pannel then connected it to a normally open thermostat at 50 degs connected the fan to the remonte wire so when the amp is on so is the fan, and connected the termostat to the main constant power, so now when the amp comes on the fan does too, and if for some reason it does overheat and i turn the amp off the termostat will keep the fan on untill the amp has cooled down to the set temp

jaycar has everything you will need

Or you could just buy a good amp like an Audison which does all that for you! I haven't made them shut down yet from abuse... :D

Or you could just buy a good amp like an Audison which does all that for you! I haven't made them shut down yet from abuse... :D

i guess but you do pay a lot more money for it, especially if you are looking for a nice loud system on a tight budget, i just wish the amps came with the fan, it would only be a cheap addition in the production line, and it would keep a lot of ppl happy, i guess what you get is what you pay for

I just throw a bucket of water over it every time i step out the car, works a treat :)
*Warning, that was a joke, DO NOT attempt to put water on your amp*

Either that, or jsut add fans which is what alot fo people do.. and idea i did have though for my custom install, is to get an intercooler for it. Well, a mock one anyway... have fresh air coming in through the ducts in the boot, feed them through chrome pipe and up tot he top of the amp with the fans forcing the air down and then also mroe fans at the bottom of the amp with chrom piping that'll catch the warm air fedding it out of the car... i have a huge chrome amp, so it'd kinda work in terms of design, i dunno if it'd make it much cooler though :P