Amp overheating after continuous use....

[Virindok 10+ year member]

Hey, I've got an oldschool sony 4 channel amplifier that works great but after playing about 20-30 minutes gets extremely hot.... Anybody have any ideas on ways to cool it down? It was under my front passenger seat but I moved it out and onto the floor to make sure it wasn't the location making it overheat. It seems to be getting some airflow. Is there any kind of mods that can be done? Bigger heatsink? I also thought of possibly using some kind of thermal paste between the fets and sinks - like a CPU. Is this a bad or useless idea? Any other thoughts? Thanks.

p.s. gains aren't cranked

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[Villeza1 10+ year member]

Well, off top you're running a cheap sony amp...I'd def upgrade from that ASAP.

No amp runs hot with no problems. Trying to cool the amp is not the solution, find the problem why the amp is overheating in the 1st place. If it takes you to re-do your whole system to find the problem...then so be it.

My guess is you're running your amp with the wrong ohm level.

 

[lantz 10+ year member]

what ohm level is the amp running at?

 

[Virindok 10+ year member]

It's actually a decent sony amp, an older one, before they became mainstream garbage. An upgrade would be nice if I had the budget for it. New place & new car came first.

Anyways, it's running @ 2 ohms.

 

[Villeza1 10+ year member]

It's actually a decent sony amp, an older one, before they became mainstream garbage. An upgrade would be nice if I had the budget for it. New place & new car came first.
Anyways, it's running @ 2 ohms.

Geez, you got yourself a real problem...maybe something is slightly burned inside the amp from long usuage causing insufficient power and making the amp run hot. This is just a guess tho...

 

[lantz 10+ year member]

you got a model number? and is it 2 ohms on each channel or is it bridged on the front and bridged on the rear? the reason for asking is because most older amps can only be bridged at 4 ohm.as far as it getting real hot...you either have a problem OR your heatsink is actually doing its job.

 

[SRim23 5,000+ posts]

amps get really hot if your grounds arent good enough as well. check it, might be loose or it might not be that good.

 

[Virindok 10+ year member]

you got a model number? and is it 2 ohms on each channel or is it bridged on the front and bridged on the rear? the reason for asking is because most older amps can only be bridged at 4 ohm.as far as it getting real hot...you either have a problem OR your heatsink is actually doing its job.

Don't have the model offhand but it's 2 ohms on each channel not bridged.

 

[Virindok 10+ year member]

amps get really hot if your grounds arent good enough as well. check it, might be loose or it might not be that good.

I thought I made sure I had a solid ground but I will re-check it. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[lantz 10+ year member]

im sure its normal to run hotter being that its running at a lower ohm.the lower the ohms means less efficiency means more heat.....make an amp rack or box if you want....

http://www.bcae1.com/amprack.htm

 

[Villeza1 10+ year member]

im sure its normal to run hotter being that its running at a lower ohm.the lower the ohms means less efficiency means more heat.....make an amp rack or box if you want....
http://www.bcae1.com/amprack.htm

true statement...

 

[blackdragonaudi 10+ year member]

If you need a new amp I have a newer sony xplod amp 60 by 4 ill sell to you for 50 bucks and we could meet somewhere to do the trade, Also have a 1 year old alpine amp 40 by 4 blown mosfet will sell to you for 25 bucks.

 

[SRim23 5,000+ posts]

I thought I made sure I had a solid ground but I will re-check it. Thanks for the suggestion.

yeah, sometimes over time they come loose.