My Alpine amp running my 10" sub shut down on me once on a real hot day. I was running it pretty hard. I know it gets hot behind my back seat but my audio dealer installs this same amp in that location without issue. It only shut down once but I was wondering if I ran a #4 power back there and split off with # 8s to each amp would it help the amp run cooler? They are fed with a #10 each now. The amp in question is a Alpine MVR-T320 about 160 watts RMS bridged. Other that the once I have no probs but thought I would address it.

 

BUMP

 

Running larger gauge wire helps but you also have to make sure the ground wire is of the same gauge.

Also you might want to look into a power cap for the bass amp b/c that is the one that draws the most power.

The 4 gauge wire from the battery and then use a distribution block w/ 8 gauge to each amp should work fine. and help out your amps

 

10-guage cable to a 160 watt amp with (an assumed) wire length of 20 feet is adequate (although I would have thought 8 guage would have been a more standard choice here.) Increasing the power cable guage will not affect the heat of your amplifier. In fact, if you were starving the amplifiers of current by under-guaging the power wire, you would only decrease the power output - thus decreasing the running temperature.

The fact that you have your amps mounted in a location of little to no air flow is the main contributor to your overheating problem. I suggest purchasing one or more 12-volt fans to try and get some air circulation behind those seats. Or, you can reinstall the amps under the front seats.

 

I echo what medisconna said.
Having undersized wire does nothing but starve your amps and give you the potential for a fire. (wire will overheat and insulation will melt if too much current is pulled through.)
It will not increase the temperature of your amps.

Another suggestion is to look at how the amp is mounted. Heat always rises, so it's best to mount amps with the fins going vertically. This allows air to pass through the fins and better heat disipation. If the fins are horizontal, heat gets trapped in them.

Good luck!

 

Medisconna and IEEE are right. Heat occurs in a circuit ONLY where there is resistance and a lack of power to the amp would only "decrease" its internal resistance in an attempt to draw more power. No need to overkill on the wiring size for 160 watts!

 

Thanks for the replys... I will more than likely upgrade the wire anyway because Alpine says it needs more than a #10...at least
#8 and that is not the only amp back there. So I willl probably just drop in a couple of fans back there to keep air moving. I tried to get it to shut down the other day to see if I really had a problem and couldn't duplicate it. My thinking was the same as ieee_raider's when I mounted the amps...I did mount them that way and hopfully the fans will prevent future problems. My Audio dealer says they have done quite a few F150's behind the seat without problems.

 

Remember, the SCab and SCREW have different amounts of space behind the rear seat. Perhaps your dealer is neglecting this fact. Either way - good luck with your project.

 

Actually on the 04's, they are the exact same between SCAB and SCREW.

If it is any consulation, i have my amps mounted flush in the enclosure and have only had it shut down on me once. The amp by nature doesn't get very hot till you play hours of BM or the like. Was gonna put some fans blowing air into the amp rack but never did and also never had another problem.

If your running multiple amps, i'd say the 10 is a bit on the small side. I suggest running back a 4 gauge then splitting off that with the 8 to each amp. I've always been a big fan of overkill on wiring. Get yourself a power distribution block.

 

Thanks for the info on the '04 rear wall SS!!

 

I thought so also (STICKER) and upgraded my wire to #4 feed with a 150 amp fuse at the batt and a dist block behind the seat. I also placed a fan back there on a relay so it comes on when the amps do.

 

Some great info given here. The confined space of an amp is often overlooked, in terms of allowing for cooling. If you don't believe the cooling sinks of an amp are important, take them off and see what happens. An amp of mediocre quality will shut down in minutes, literally, and one without protection will fail very quickly. The thermal coefficient of output devices in an amp is such that when they get hot, they will try to flow more current, thus getting even hotter. Cooling IS critical. Even if an amp doesn't shut down, stability is greatly affected.