Amp Cooling Mods (pics)

[Hookah]

This is my $15 junk yard amp, a spare. I still haven't cleaned it thoroughly yet because it hasn't been out of storage for long at all. It gets pretty hot running two bridged channels powering techno, so I'm practicing a few modifications.

-Larger Primary Heat Sink (not including the body)

-Fan-Cooled Primary Heat Sink

-Large Additional Heat Sink (fin)

-Internal Cooling Fan

-Open Bottom

-Elevated Body

-Heat Sinking Platform

This is one of those fans that blows out a scoop, blowing through the heat sink channels...





An amp with a spoiler? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif That was the original plate from where the larger heat sink is currently sitting. It got too hot to touch in it's original position. Now it is a large cooling fin...











The fans aren't connected yet, as I only just started working on it late last night on a whim, but after a good test run, no part of the amp is very hot, only warm. The heat sink, fin, and sides of the platform all get warm, meaning they are doing their job at least to some extent.

Yes, the platform is the top from a dead amp turned upside down. The spoiler/fin is the relocated plate from the working amp. The larger heat sink and fans are from random electronics I have been hording for years.

...I say not a bad little $15 rig, but I am pretty new to sound systems, so I'm sure there is a lot I'm overlooking or even doing wrong. It can definitely be dressed up a bit at the very least. I just thought I'd share last night's project //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Click to read more...

 

[Hertz Mafia]

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[The Camry]

Lol. Do what the pros did. Liquid cooling in mosfets

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[Hookah]

Lol. Do what the pros did. Liquid cooling in mosfets
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That seems a bit more complicated //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

Liquid cooled electronics are fascinating. Perhaps if I had a shop and 40 hours in each day to work I'd do that and much more //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I do have a nice laptop cooling rig from a broken laptop though, one of those with the long copper tube that runs through heat sinks and connected to a fan. It looks like it could be placed on a row of transistors. I would think that would be pretty effective. I also found some fancy little heat sinks that slip onto transistors in some old DVD players. They look like the giant heat sink with lots of fins, but they are super small.

 

[The Camry]

That seems a bit more complicated //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif
Liquid cooled electronics are fascinating. Perhaps if I had a shop and 40 hours in each day to work I'd do that and much more //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Simpler than you think and way better looking than basically ricing out your amp. Just look up how liquid cooling works. Its a small heatsink hooked up to running water vs a small heatsink hooked up to a larger heatsink.

Also, overheating amps are almost never an issue and doesn't have any effect on sound quality. Only time amps get too hot is if they are in poorly vented areas (false floors with no fans.) Or they are being clipped to hell and things start frying

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[Hookah]

Simpler than you think and way better looking than basically ricing out your amp. Just look up how liquid cooling works. Its a small heatsink hooked up to running water vs a small heatsink hooked up to a larger heatsink.

Also, overheating amps are almost never an issue and doesn't have any effect on sound quality. Only time amps get too hot is if they are in poorly vented areas (false floors with no fans.) Or they are being clipped to hell and things start frying

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LOL! Ricing out an amp. That's fairly accurate. My friend is the one who pointed out that "the amp has a spoiler". I think it's hilarious. I might just paint some flames on it since it is kind of a joke anyway.

Thanks for pointing out some aspects to amplifiers. As I mentioned, I am fairly new to car audio. I wounder if I'm having an issue with the amp since it was litterally too hot to even very quicly place my finger against it. After my 300 RMS amp died, I am paranoid about losing another one, and it would be good to have all of this worked out before I invest in a good one.

I can see how water-cooled amps could be simple, but I just assumed there was more than meets the eye. I am familiar with car radiator systems, and understand the basics of a nuclear plant cooling system (how the contaminated water is kept separate from the 'clean' water, which sort of relates to crucially keeping water separate from the electronics), so perhaps it's simpler than I realize. I honestly just haven't looked into it. Maybe with a more deserving amp, but I am weary of altering a good one.

 

[The_Quiet_One 10+ year member]

Have you checked how your gain is set and if your ground is decent?

 

[The Camry]

LOL! Ricing out an amp. That's fairly accurate. My friend is the one who pointed out that "the amp has a spoiler". I think it's hilarious. I might just paint some flames on it since it is kind of a joke anyway.
Thanks for pointing out some aspects to amplifiers. As I mentioned, I am fairly new to car audio. I wounder if I'm having an issue with the amp since it was litterally too hot to even very quicly place my finger against it. After my 300 RMS amp died, I am paranoid about losing another one, and it would be good to have all of this worked out before I invest in a good one.

I can see how water-cooled amps could be simple, but I just assumed there was more than meets the eye. I am familiar with car radiator systems, and understand the basics of a nuclear plant cooling system (how the contaminated water is kept separate from the 'clean' water, which sort of relates to crucially keeping water separate from the electronics), so perhaps it's simpler than I realize. I honestly just haven't looked into it. Maybe with a more deserving amp, but I am weary of altering a good one.

Lol. The only good amps i know that run uncomfortably hot are the alpine PDX amps. Many people talk about hot they qre but dont seem to have an issue. If you are having issues with amps getting to hot and failing. Its most likely because they are bargain brand amps, because they have too small of power wire going to them, because the gains are set wrong and are sending the amp into protect, because they are very old and have failing components, or they are running too low of a ohm load.

Basically an amp should be a plug and play product. Run the correct size wire, set the gains right and hook up some speakers. You should never have to do external mods to amps.

When I say pros do it. What im referencing is that back in the 90s. Installs were judged at events just as much as the actual audio quality so people would do weird and crazy stuff to their amps to make them stand out but it was never anything but aesthetics.

As for how nuclear plants work. Their water cooling is way different. Think about how a computer cooling system works. Its basically abunch of fans. If you get a nice cpu cooler. Its a 1/4thick piece if aluminum plate mounted directly ontop of the cpu and then has a huge aluminum fin heatsink with hollow(filled with air) copper pipes going through it. Its maximizing surface area to increase heat dissipation.

That is essentially what you'd be doing to the mosfets. Run a bus bar to each mosfet. Have the busbar have running water over it and you have cooling. Pointless but if you wanted to do it. Thats how.

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[Hookah]

Have you checked how your gain is set and if your ground is decent?

Thanks for helping //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

My gains are set pretty low, about 1/4, and one channel a little less than the other. The ground is a rather good 8ga wire that came with the 300 RMS amp, and connected to the car well. Perhaps I should try another spot just to be certain.

There is an issue with one of the gain knobs, but I didn't play it until it was fixed (after discovering it), at least apparently fixed... It has to be pushed to the side or else the volume gets really low and it tries to clip. When I took it apart I examined the knob but couldn't identify any obvious cause. It looks just like the other gain in every way/condition. The seemingly excessive heat was happening after the apparent fix, without any clipping or drop in volume. It was performing very well.

 

[Hookah]

or they are running too low of a ohm load.

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By too low, do you mean powering lower ohm speakers or higher? ...because one of my subs is 6 ohms (yeah I know, but this is a temporary experimental system while I learn and straighten things out, which might be taking place right now //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif ). It's a very potent sub I've had for 16 years that has huge excursion so I thought I'd put it to use for a while.

The amp is rated at 4ohms and 2 ohms, and 4 ohms bridged (which it is currently).

 

[The Camry]

By too low, do you mean powering lower ohm speakers or higher? ...because one of my subs is 6 ohms (yeah I know, but this is a temporary experimental system while I learn and straighten things out, which might be taking place right now //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif ). It's a very potent sub I've had for 16 years that has huge excursion so I thought I'd put it to use for a while.
The amp is rated at 4ohms and 2 ohms, and 4 ohms bridged (which it is currently).

Basically 2 and 4 channel amps should be 2ohm and higher. Sub amps are the only 1ohm stable amps.

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[The_Quiet_One 10+ year member]

If you're halfway confident about the gain knob(s) working close to normal, definitely check your ground. Ideally it will have direct contact with the car chassis. What impedance are your speakers wired?

Without being there myself it's hard to tell how hot is too hot. It may be fairly "normal" depending on the amp, but best to have your bases covered first. Especially if you plan on upgrading to a better amp down the road.

 

[The_Quiet_One 10+ year member]

Whats the impedance of the other sub if one is 6?

 

[Hookah]

Whats the impedance of the other sub if one is 6?

The other sub is 4 ohms, running off of the other bridged channel.

 

[The_Quiet_One 10+ year member]

The other sub is 4 ohms, running off of the other bridged channel.

If your amp is internally bridging the 2 channels then it sounds like you are running them in parallel which results in a ~2.4 ohm load.

BTW to continue beating on a dead horse...try not to mix subs. An angel dies every time someone does it.

Added: Lower impedance means more current which means more heat potentially worsening your problem.... Also I feel the need to state that mixed subs can work....if you put in the time, effort, and have the extraordinary amount of knowledge to pull it off correctly and even then it's more common in Home Theater where environmental variables are easier to anticipate/control, but for 99.9999% of people in car audio it's a bad idea unless you just want to try and get more air moving.