Amp getting hot

[digitalrainman 10+ year member]

Wordy poster here, summary at bottom if you dont wanna read.

Well i had lately been having a smell from either my sub or amp, and since my amp is getting hot i assume its from it.

Its a new cadence 6004 amp. I have my gains set at 20v (100w) for the rsd comps, and channels 3 and 4 are bridged to 40v (400w) for my kicker cvr. Alot of people say that smells and heat can be due to poor grounds, yesterday i went and redid my ground location by sanding down and putting it on bare metal and reattaching the ground. I measured using the dmm method to see the effectiveness of the ground, i ran a wire to the negative wire to the battery with the battery disconnected, then put the positive on the ground location. The dmm had a .8ohm resistance naturally, and after putting it to the ground it went up to 1ohm resistance, so a .2ohm resistance on my ground, which people say it should be less then like .5.

Also it seems only one amp in the unit is heating up alot. I assume that the amp for ch 1 and 2 are to the left of the unit closer to the speaker hookups and the amp for 2 and 4 are on the right. The 1 and 2 amp is the one getting hot, and when i mean hot i mean 3 seconds of having your hand on it, then any longer and im pretty sure it would burn me, thats the one with the new rsds, the sub amp seems to be like lukewarm.

1) Gains set correctly

2) Ground adds .2 ohm resistance only, dmm tested.

3) Faint smell of new plastic, not burning smell yet.

4) No protection light going on.

5) Very hot on only one side of the amp.

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[mavster 10+ year member]

could it be that the amps are known to run hot?

 

[digitalrainman 10+ year member]

Hot enough to be as hot as the heatsink in my computer? It just seemed odd to smell a plastic smell and have the amp be pretty hot only on one side.

 

[digitalrainman 10+ year member]

Today i let it run for awhile and then touched it. I touched the heatsink and almost burned my finger, so im assuming this isnt just running hot, its gotta be overheating.

 

[SethPhillips 5,000+ posts]

Today i let it run for awhile and then touched it. I touched the heatsink and almost burned my finger, so im assuming this isnt just running hot, its gotta be overheating.

but not going into protect?

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

are you sure you have the correct resistance per channel? too low of resistance will make the amp overheat...

 

[bad @SS chevy 10+ year member]

its not un-normal for a amp to get a little warm.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

its not un-normal for a amp to get a little warm.

Today i let it run for awhile and then touched it. I touched the heatsink and almost burned my finger, so im assuming this isnt just running hot, its gotta be overheating.

not that hot

 

[its_bacon12 10+ year member]

my kicker 160ss ran steady at about 160 degrees, some amps are designed to run hot..

you might be pushing it too hard though, low impedance or high gains could do that too

 

[digitalrainman 10+ year member]

I have the gains set at 100w for fronts, 400w for sub. The amp is rated at 150w x 4, or 600 x 2. My sub is a 2 ohm hooked in series for 4 ohm to the amp. It should be able to do up to 600 at 4 ohm bridged.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

I have the gains set at 100w for fronts, 400w for sub. The amp is rated at 150w x 4, or 600 x 2. My sub is a 2 ohm hooked in series for 4 ohm to the amp. It should be able to do up to 600 at 4 ohm bridged.

all resistance and voltages checked with a dmm?

 

[digitalrainman 10+ year member]

Voltages yes not resistances yet.

What does it mean if they are off? Defective speakers or issue that may be my cause.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

Voltages yes not resistances yet.
What does it mean if they are off? Defective speakers or issue that may be my cause.

if what are off?

 

[digitalrainman 10+ year member]

The resistance, as in if its different then 4.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

The resistance, as in if its different then 4.

i have not fully examined your setup, but if the resistance is incorrect it usually is in the wiring, or your speakers are not what you think they are

edit: with reference to impedence