My Kenwood KAC9104-D is mounted on my back wall, and as I discovered a couple times this past weekend with my new subs, after an 1 - 1 1/2 hours of solid play on long trips overheating becomes a problem and she shuts down...

I am looking at some of the 8" bar-style fans on eBay such as this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Anybody here running and fans on their amps?

 

I dunno if it blow air on the amp rather then pull the hot air away. Maybe pull it up or towards the doors.
Ive heard of people useing fans if needed, i never had too. Id say make sure your ohms are correct, most amps shouldnt get too hot to the touch if you pulling the correct power and not overdriving it.

 

It's not getting too hot to the touch, it is going into its "safe" mode and cutting itself off but leaving the factory fans going until the amp is cool enough to resume operation - which is about 2-3 minutes of cool time followed by only 10-15 minutes of play time until it cuts off again.

There is absolutely no air movement behind that seat and I was running it pretty hard for a long time, and should only run into the problem on long trips. Thing is, I take a lot of long trips, so it'd be more than worth it to me to put a fan or two on it so I can have my boom for whole trips and to extend the life of the amp too.

I am just curious to what types of fans people on here have used before. I plan on just wiring them into the remote wire to the amp so they automatically cut on when the amp is on.

 

Hello.

Hmmmm ... let me ask you this: what do you think is trggering shutdown. Must be approaching an overheat condition internally, right?

You'd think then this would also manifect itself as a very warm extrnal heatsink. If not I'd almost suspect yer amp has an issue with thermal transfer.

And - if THAT is the case, no amount of fan cooling is gonna help, as that transfer is a two-way phenomenon.

Can you beg/borrow a point&shoot IR thermometer and read the case / heatsink temp right at shutdown? ( how quick can ya remove that seat back )

Also - another test: remove the seatback temporarily and see if it still does it.

I've driven amps to the point of near-meltdown - no issues. Remember silicon power output devices can operate to almost 200 degrees C and survive.

If you are actually hitting shutdown temps that heatsink better be REAL warm, or you may indeed have a trigger threshold issue, or worse a heat transfer issue.

Lastly - also remember that properly designed car audio compnenets are meant to live & thrive in a vastly diverse temperature environment - (windows-up @ high noon in Pheonix as an example). Kinda pointless otherwise.

If it's not a thermal trip occurring, I tend to agree with what Mr. Pork Cereal alluded to - you may be surpassing another triggerable parameter (over-current, etc) which is initiating the event. Just a thought. And a fan won't help you here either.

Good luck

MGD v4.2

 

I suspect heat because it can play hard for a long time and then shut down and return to operation after a few minutes by itself...which tells me overheating. An overdraw or something would occur randomly and not as scheduled as overheating. And I bet it is pretty damn hot to the touch, the only fan on it is a little about 1 1/2" circle fan in one of the heat sinks, the other vent has no fan.

 

Oh and I've had the same problem with Sony Receivers in my house (we party hard, and often). On 50 volume the receiver could play for about 2-3 hours before overheating with the room around 70 degrees, added a fan, and boom, no problem going 16-20 hours, which it frequently does.

That thing would get so hot that it would burn you badly if you laid your hand on it and now its cool to the touch no matter what.

 

Then try running a vent fan pulling heat AWAY from the amp and blowing it towards the side of the truck, or back under the seats if you have room. Its only 20$ or so, its not like its going to break the bank.

 

Okay - this is where ya lost me ...


Don't compare cheap (Sony) home audio to equipment designed & spec'd for automobile environments. Apples to oranges.

Bottom line - should not be tripping regardless of operation - as long as it's within the designed operating limits. Without fans. Period.

Good luck. Please let us know how it works out.

MGD v4.2

 

Sorry for the confusion, I originally meant to indicate that I could not tell if it was hot to the touch, as it is behind the rear seat.

 

I also would not consider where we mount our amps a normal environment either. The foam from the back of the seat mashing into it is like wrapping the thing in a blanket and putting it in the oven. Atleast a trunk is just an oven.

 

How low of an impedance do you have strapped to the amp? Quality control on a lot of these products isn't what it used to be: a lot of today's mainstream amplifiers may say they are stable at 1 or 2 ohm resistances but it often isn't true. The resistance of the speaker can chance at different frequencies so the amp may not be able to handle the load well, especially for hours at a time. I've never had a problem with all 3 of my amps back there with the system blaring for a while, and its 110 degrees here during the summer heat.

On another note, only 28 minutes of continuous exposure to extremely loud music can cause permanent hearing loss. if you are blasting bass for hours at a time...well lets just say that its just not healthy.

 

Wow what a buzz kill. who needs to hear it when you can feel it, lol j/k

 

Marc, I listen to my music too loud for too long, and I shoot loud guns too often. My hearing doesn't stand a chance haha.

And an update, I found that the ring terminal at the end of my power wire at the batter is loose and has been causing intermittent play...I will replace those this afternoon and let you guys know if that was the problem after the usual trips this weekend.

 

Bahaha giving up is not the answer!

I shouldn't talk though. I play my system pretty loud most of the time (although not all bass), and hunting/shooting year round batters my ears pretty good.

 

So thats why I like bass so much....haha