amp heating and going into thermal protect, need options

[rick1024]

i have a soundstream rubicon 1600.1 in my mitsu evo. its mounted on the side of my sub box in the trunk. i have been having issues with poor sound levels and the amp either not turning on at all or turning on for about 20 minutes, getting hot and shutting off on its own. the amp is fed directly from the battery using a 0/1 gauge cable from stinger. the cars trunk has no ventilation. once its hot in there it takes a long time to cool off. the amp is bridged down to 2ohms.

i am looking at two options.

1. move the amp into the car and under the seat. there is no way to get cool air from the cars cabin into the trunk, the seats do not fold down. i figure since its always cooler inside the car that the amp would do better mounted under the seat. there seems to be plenty of room for it. this option im thinking would probably work, but......

2. getting a cap. now before anyone says anything, i myself am an anti-cap advocate and am constantly telling people to not waste their money. the issue is that my cars battery is super tiny. i have a mini battery instead of the regular battery, it was the only way to get the intercooler piping i wanted to fit. for the most part it works fine, i notice no dimming when bass hits, and my voltage never drops below 13.6 with headlights, foglights, a/c, stereo and sub on. my thinking is the amp is having to really pull for voltage from the small battery, and having the cap would make up for that.

here is a link of the mini-battery for reference

ETS Mitsubishi Evo 8 and Evolution 9 Battery Kit

as well as an actual pic of the battery installed in my evo:

im leaning towards installing the amp under the seat, but here in dfw the heat is killer, so i sweat like no tomorrow and get exhausted from working on the car. if i am going to do it i want to make sure its worth doing. any opinions will be appreciated

Click to read more...

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

Under the seat isn't much better for airflow. I would mount it to the rear seatback and fold it down or mount it elsewhere in the trunk where it will get cooler air. A cap won't help with the problem. And its never a good idea to mount the amp on the box to begin with

 

[rick1024]

Under the seat isn't much better for airflow. I would mount it to the rear seatback and fold it down or mount it elsewhere in the trunk where it will get cooler air. A cap won't help with the problem. And its never a good idea to mount the amp on the box to begin with

seat doesnt fold down. there really is no other place to put it

 

[CAT MAN 5,000+ posts]

get a better electrical system all there is to fix it. or proper grounds if they are poo

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

get a better electrical system all there is to fix it. or proper grounds if they are poo

This..It6 takes power to make power,and that battery is just enough to crank and run that car,any upgrades of the electrical, and you need some juice.That amp is prob ******* that battery dry,and then no power left going into protect mode, and the alternator is prob making up for the loss.Id relocate a larger battery in the trunk,like a Kinetick 1200 or bigger.Check your sub wiring once again

 

[bhsdriller 10+ year member]

get some fans on it.....moving hot air is better then nothing

 

[rick1024]

i am considering getting a second battery to power the sub, but i dont know exactly what goes into wiring a second battery into my charging system. anyone have any ideas?

 

[zako 10+ year member]

And its never a good idea to mount the amp on the box to begin with

This depends on the goals... if I mount a cheap "less than $200" amplifier and have it running for about 3 years or so before the vibrations may destroy it, I'll consider it a success. A lot of home audio amplifiers also come mounted on the box. I believe all of parts-express DIY subwoofer toolkits come with amp mounted on the box.

 

[zako 10+ year member]

rick1024,

how do you bridge a monoblock amplifier for 2ohms? I hope the wired impedance is indeed 2ohms, and not say something like 0.5. Based on description, could it be that the amplifier is bad? How did you set amplifier gains? It may be a good idea to connect DMM and check voltage with a 0dB test tone just to make sure you're not over driving the amplifier. Also, using features like bass boost or bass EQ can have a serious load on the amplifier. Set all bass boosts to 0dB and see how amplifier runs this way.

Yes.. Texas heat is a bad, specially in August. My front stage is powered by Mb Quart ref4.80, which already runs hot by itself. Last summer I could see it frequently shut down because of heat.. Then I remembered that I had a +3dB boost a 65Hz on the head unit as an experiment. I turned it off, and problem was solved.

 

[quackhead 10+ year member]

i am considering getting a second battery to power the sub, but i dont know exactly what goes into wiring a second battery into my charging system. anyone have any ideas?

You will need to replace the front "Value Battery" in your kit with a quality AGM Deep Cycle battery, as well as add another one to the rear of the car. The Deep Cycle AGM's contain much more power delivery and charging ability in a much smaller case, compared to a conventional starting battery.

You will need to run a negative wire of the same size as the positive wire you already have. Just wire the two batteries parallel, then you can wire the amp directly to the second battery both pos. and neg.

The key is you have to use both the front and rear battery of the same type(AGM). Absorbed Glass Mat deep cycle batteries charge differently than a standard Wet Cell type. This difference in charging and discharge rates can damage both batteries over time if they are not of the same type.

I am just listing a few from Sonic as a quick reference, you will have to take some measurements of the battery you have and possibly make some fone calls to get a couple of the right ones lined up. You can run a small HC 600 or 800 up front and a bigger HC1800 or 2000 in the rear for probably the best results

XS Power D680 12-Volt Deep Cycle AGM Power Cell Battery

SHURiKEN SK-BT35 (SKBT35) 950 Amp 12 Volt Car Battery Power Cell

Kinetik HC800 (KHC800) 950 Amp 36 AH 12V Car Battery Power Cell

There are others to choose from too. Even the cheapest AGM deep cycle is a better alternative than a Capacitor.

As far as the amp getting hot at 2 ohms, double check the power connections at all points, including fuses. Make sure the Pos. and Neg. wires are the same size, etc. to rule out voltage loss in those areas. I am betting it is the tiny little starting battery you have causing your problems though.

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

You will need to replace the front "Value Battery" in your kit with a quality AGM Deep Cycle battery, as well as add another one to the rear of the car. The Deep Cycle AGM's contain much more power delivery and charging ability in a much smaller case, compared to a conventional starting battery.You will need to run a negative wire of the same size as the positive wire you already have. Just wire the two batteries parallel, then you can wire the amp directly to the second battery both pos. and neg.

The key is you have to use both the front and rear battery of the same type(AGM). Absorbed Glass Mat deep cycle batteries charge differently than a standard Wet Cell type. This difference in charging and discharge rates can damage both batteries over time if they are not of the same type.

I am just listing a few from Sonic as a quick reference, you will have to take some measurements of the battery you have and possibly make some fone calls to get a couple of the right ones lined up. You can run a small HC 600 or 800 up front and a bigger HC1800 or 2000 in the rear for probably the best results

XS Power D680 12-Volt Deep Cycle AGM Power Cell Battery

SHURiKEN SK-BT35 (SKBT35) 950 Amp 12 Volt Car Battery Power Cell

Kinetik HC800 (KHC800) 950 Amp 36 AH 12V Car Battery Power Cell

There are others to choose from too. Even the cheapest AGM deep cycle is a better alternative than a Capacitor.

As far as the amp getting hot at 2 ohms, double check the power connections at all points, including fuses. Make sure the Pos. and Neg. wires are the same size, etc. to rule out voltage loss in those areas. I am betting it is the tiny little starting battery you have causing your problems though.

You say use a quality battery then you list shuriken and kinetic products //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/slap.gif.87520e8ca8e90076ac30e777c0de5331.gif

 

[duanebro 10+ year member]

Could you just move the battery to the trunk? Replacing it with a bigger one of course. This would free up more room up front.

If it isn't the battery you have a bad connection, most likely the ground.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Could you just move the battery to the trunk? Replacing it with a bigger one of course. This would free up more room up front.
If it isn't the battery you have a bad connection, most likely the ground.

Yes he can..He can disregard putting the stock placement battery up front.,and relocate it to the rear of the vehicle,to get a larger battery in, to utilize for starting, and for the system.he just needs to make sure to use a min of 4ga wiring,is what is recommended for power and ground wiring for batteries.I my self would do the big 3 on that setup, and run 0 ga for poss, and neg wiring, and ground the batt in the rear to a solid ground of part of that BIG 3.Take a look at the Chevy Equinox of where the battery is located,and use that as an Idea.he can go to a car lot/used even, and look for himself for that battery location, and under the hood for connecting/ect.

 

[rick1024]

i have had a feeling its the battery

i have no bass boost or any of that stuff on. i used to call those little knobs the amps come with distortion knobs. i wired the sub to the amp by wiring both voice coils together (++,--). i basically set my gain by putting the head unit at the highest listening volume and then raising the gain till i heard distortion.

i really dont know another way, i know a lot of people use voltage meters, and i do have one, but i dont know how.

 

[goingdef 10+ year member]

i have had a feeling its the battery
i have no bass boost or any of that stuff on. i used to call those little knobs the amps come with distortion knobs. i wired the sub to the amp by wiring both voice coils together (++,--). i basically set my gain by putting the head unit at the highest listening volume and then raising the gain till i heard distortion.

i really dont know another way, i know a lot of people use voltage meters, and i do have one, but i dont know how.

well if thats how you wired the sub if it's a D2 then your at 1ohm if it's a D4 then your at 2ohms , and as far as the meter download a test tone at 50hz turn off all filters and turn the HU up 3/4 with the sub unhooked hook up the dmm leads to the speaker outputs on the amp set the dmm to ac now with the tone playing turn up the gain until the meter reads the desired ac output(you will need to google gain settings chart) ....wait isn't there a sticky on this?

good luck bro, it's really simple after a couple times you can do it at a gas station in 3-5 minutes if you had too!