Santacruzslick

iTrader: (12)

Ok, about a month or so ago I put my amp. down in the spare tire well along with a sub woofer. Today, for the first time, my amp. went into "safe mode" to keep itself from overheating to the point of self destruction. I will post a pic. of my trunk below. What can I do to keep it from over heating? I don't think any amount of fans can keep it cool.
When I got home I opened the trunk and it was like opening an oven. I think my contact lenses are fused to my eyeballs from the heat. LOL
The piece of plexi-glass above the amp. was hot enough to fry an egg on.

Even my sub-woofer cone was hot!

WHAT CAN I DO!!!!!??????!!!!!!!!!!?????!!!!11

Santacruzslick

iTrader: (12)

Paul350Z

iTrader: (1)

Watts is watts = heat.

If you really want me to I can post the formulas that will allow you to calculate the amount of power amplifier that can sit in your trunk without over heating. They're at work in one of my reference manuals.

Basically you take the watts that the amplifier consumes - which is more than it produces in sound and then use the container's volume and an insulation constant for various materials and run the formula. At some point you'll be able to put more heat into the box then it can dissipate and the temperature rises. The rule of thumb is that for every 10 degrees of heat above it's operating temp (normally stated about 110-120) you'll increase the failure rate by 50%.

Get yourself one of those electronic thermometers from Harbor Freight to measure how bad it is. If you amp is shutting down it's warning you. Your parts will wear like crazy mad in such conditions.

Santacruzslick

iTrader: (12)

But what can I do to keep it cooler? I mean...roadsters trunks are only so big. I could throw some computer fans in I guess but it's just going to re-circulate hot air. The entire trunk was mad hot. I think I need something that actually cools the air...like a compressor. Hmm...small air compressor for air horns triggered to come on at a certain temperature. That sounds like it may work...I think...I dunno?

zmespeed

ya that would be cool to have a perg valves on conected to a paintball cO2 bottle. then just spray when it getts to hot. that would be so pimp. you could say "ya my amps are big, so big that i need a cO2 system just to cool'm."

Santacruzslick

iTrader: (12)

Damn...so many solutions...I need an intercooler for my amp!! LOL

JimRHIT

iTrader: (6)

honest suggeston here

- get a more efficient amp.

Like you said computer fans and such can only do so much with recirc-ing the hot air ...

a cooler running more efficient amp will work best for you

Santacruzslick

iTrader: (12)

The thing is, this amp usually runs pretty cool. This is the first time I have made it do this and it was probably because I was listening to some songs with hard hitting bass really REALLY loud. I was pushing the amp. pretty hard for about 90-120 minutes straight. It's a roadster so I can turn it pretty damn loud before my ears blow. I wanted to make sure all the people around me driving too slow heard me coming up behind them. LOL

Reggi914

iTrader: (3)

anyway to get outside air into the trunk? Kind of like an intake kind of thing? I dont have a roadster so i dont know if its possible, but its just a suggestion.

isugoo

iTrader: (6)

If you want to replace amp, I'm willing to buy it from you.
As you know, I'm looking for Eclipse 5ch. amp. Let me know.

Santacruzslick

iTrader: (12)

No way..keeping the amp. for sure. Got a hell of a deal on it.

Santacruzslick

iTrader: (12)

That's an interesting idea...have to ponder this...

Paul350Z

iTrader: (1)

You need to pull the heat from the amp and vent it to the outside. When I tore my trunk apart I found a set of vents on either side of the trunk behind the wheel well. They only vent outwards with little flap vents. I think they're there to allow the climate control to push air through the car and out the back end.

You might be able to run air from the inside of the car across the amp picking up heat and then ducting it out these vents. Forced air induction as opposed to natural would be more efficient at drawing off the heat.

Allowing the internal air to circulate over the thing would be good too. Trapping the hot air under the carpet is what's killing you.

isugoo

iTrader: (6)

ok. but if you don't mind can you pm me the price you paid?
i got a quote today from local eclipse dealer but since i don't know what is the best price, if you pm me price you paid, i will be more cofidence to deal with my local shop. (actually, i'm looking for exact same sub(model: d3 size:10") and front speakers, can you tell me those prices also??)

thanks and good luck on your issue. as you see, i keep watching this tread since i plan to have same amp.

chaparro78

iTrader: (2)

What you want to do is remove the heated air, not bring more in to get heated. I saw an issue like this at my friend's stereo shop. Adding air just cause the incoming air to get hot. When the fans where turned the other way facing air ducks in the trunk (cadi, not a Z), it solved the problem. I haven't seen the trunk of a convertable Z so I don't know if it has ducts in it. We made a false floor above the amp and placed the fans near the ducts between the actual and false floor. This was a cadi with 3 12" MTX 9500s and an MTX 801D on each one.

HyperSprite

iTrader: (6)

Does the ZR have the vents in the back corner like the coupe (under the carpet, behind the block of plastic) maybe adding fans there would help get the air out. Also keep in mind it is right over the exhaust, so there may be some extra heat source from under the car.

Chris

Santacruzslick

iTrader: (12)

I'm not sure if there are vents or not. It's kind of a pain to check since I have to disassemble a lot to get there. If anyone wants to check on their car for me that'd be great!

Tackett

Here is a suggestion, but it will require some work.

1. purchase two or three 180mm computer fans. Get on newegg.com and look up all the 180mm fans and purchase the ones with the highest cfm rating.
2. remove the amplifier.
3. after removing the amplifier cut two or three circular holes to fit your new fans over.
4. mount the fans over these holes so that they blow OUT of the vehicle, not in.
5. hook the new fans up to power. same as anything else, power and ground.

this SHOULD do the trick. granted its alot of work and will probably take you all damn day to do it. but with the pic of your trunk it looks like it should work.

You could also put an intake above your amplifier mounted to the plexiglass blowing onto your amp, but it would obstruct the view.

nice trunk by the way buddy.

Santacruzslick

iTrader: (12)

Maybe I should just do water cooling! LOL
That'd be awesome! Hey...my amp. is so powerful it needs water cooling! Woah!! I just might do that. Yea, that's the thing about fans...they take a while to put in and I'm still not quite sure if it will do much since the trunk is so small. I still think it would be easier to cool the air that is in the trunk rather than try to vent it out. I don't think roadsters would have those vents in the back since those are to assist air movement from front to back in coupes.

Tackett

If I may ask. where did you get your DAcm3's at? I have been searching everywhere but cant find them. I like them alot better than the HEX series, but HEX is all I can ever find.