Help for a heat issue

[c_mart18]

Hey, I'm new to the forum. I just recently installed my first system by myself. It is a single Rockford Fosgate p3 10 inch woofer running on a fosgate Prime 500.1, the newest model. I made a custom 1.50 cu feet vented enclosure and I am more than happy with the performance. Got exactly what I was looking for even though the box made be a little big.

Anyways today I was out bumping some tones for I'd say a good 25-30 minutes total and I got back, opened the trunk and was just checking on everything and the woofer was quite hot. Definitely not crazy hot but noticeable to the touch and same with my amp. I am worried about this because I don't wanna fry my **** because I just got it installed. Btw I DIDN'T notice any sort of burning smell so that's why I'm curious what the cause may be.

My gain was about 1/2 to 1/4 of the way up during my playing time because I am using the gain knob that was included with the amp. I'm pretty sure my gain isn't the issue.

So I have two questions or theories to why my stuff was hot. My stuff is brand new and I'm wondering if new stuff will get warm quicker because it is "breaking in"? I don't know if that occurs? Also it was a very hot day around 85 degrees and very humid out and my car was sitting outside for a good 4 hours and I'm thinking it was just the cars heat and the fact that it was all sealed in the trunk while playing may have been the issue.

I don't know, what y'all think? Feedback would be much appreciated.

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[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Well, heat and electricity go hand and hand. Your stuff is going to get warm after extended playing, period. My I'll get my subs and amps pretty warm after playing for a while. I would only be worried if it was very hot or you started smelling stuff. Side note: a lot of amp heat comes from the amps efficiency. Energy that isn't being used for sound is coming out as heat.

 

[c_mart18]

Thanks man. How does the efficiency rating work?

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Each amp should have an efficiency rating. My amps are rated at something terrible like 64% (talking about class D sub amps here). So an amp with 85% efficiency would use less electricity to make power than my amp.

The heat you mentioned definitely affects it to.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Good luck getting a real world efficiency number on anything. Amps will get warm but all but the lowest quality junk will have thermal protection which shuts it down if it gets unsafe hot. Subs will get warm, and so long as they're not getting smelly they'll survive.

 

[SounDrive Pro Seller]

Thanks man. How does the efficiency rating work?

Some amps are more efficient than others - for example class D amps are the most efficient. They're usually around 70-80% efficient at 1 ohm, and the rest of the electricity is wasted as heat.

 

[c_mart18]

Prolly sounds like a weird question but what does the smell, smell like? Just like something burning or is it distinct? Oh and BTW my amp has a 89% efficiency at 4 ohms but I'm at 2 ohms so would you say its way lower than that 89%?

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

It would probably be lower, but not too much lower. I've never smelled anything else that smells like burnt voice coil. When it hits you, you know it.

 

[c_mart18]

Haha alright well that helps answers it! Thanks fellas!

 

[phemps 10+ year member]

Hey, I'm new to the forum. I just recently installed my first system by myself. It is a single Rockford Fosgate p3 10 inch woofer running on a fosgate Prime 500.1, the newest model. I made a custom 1.50 cu feet vented enclosure and I am more than happy with the performance. Got exactly what I was looking for even though the box made be a little big.
Anyways today I was out bumping some tones for I'd say a good 25-30 minutes total and I got back, opened the trunk and was just checking on everything and the woofer was quite hot. Definitely not crazy hot but noticeable to the touch and same with my amp. I am worried about this because I don't wanna fry my **** because I just got it installed. Btw I DIDN'T notice any sort of burning smell so that's why I'm curious what the cause may be.

My gain was about 1/2 to 1/4 of the way up during my playing time because I am using the gain knob that was included with the amp. I'm pretty sure my gain isn't the issue.

So I have two questions or theories to why my stuff was hot. My stuff is brand new and I'm wondering if new stuff will get warm quicker because it is "breaking in"? I don't know if that occurs? Also it was a very hot day around 85 degrees and very humid out and my car was sitting outside for a good 4 hours and I'm thinking it was just the cars heat and the fact that it was all sealed in the trunk while playing may have been the issue.

I don't know, what y'all think? Feedback would be much appreciated.

I dont know but this statement to me makes me feel like this is your issue. The remote gain knob Is not to set your sensitivity and if it is not set correctly on your amp you could still be clipping your signal. Yes electrical devices create heat and that can be common with anything that utilizes electricity, but a square waveform will create much more energy in your transducer (sub) as it ramps up and from postive to negative very abruptly. It wouldnt be a bad idea to make sure you have that all set properly. AHH THE SMELL OF BURNING COILS.. a distinct one indeed haha thats a good thing to not be smelling that.

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

I can't believe none of you mentioned his gain.

OP by the way the proper way to set a gain is not to simply go to 1/4 or 1/2 and you should be fine, that is a guessing game. The gain should be set according to how much power you need from it.

 

[phemps 10+ year member]

I can't believe none of you mentioned his gain.
OP by the way the proper way to set a gain is not to simply go to 1/4 or 1/2 and you should be fine, that is a guessing game. The gain should be set according to how much power you need from it.

You must have failed to read my post directly on top of yours.. but yea i read that and figured he isnt set right for sure. And gains are set to match the levels of the other devices in your system not to "how much power you need"

 

[c_mart18]

Well I don't have an oscope or a smd dd1 so what is the easiest way I can set the gain?

 

[basswiigee]

the prime is a a/b class amp, mine always ran hot but never shut off... if your subs are hot... thats an issue... buy a dmm and a o scope and set it, you could get both for around $20 on ebay, i got a dmm for 2.99 the other day... get some air circulation in there...

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

DMM is cheapest way to set gains fairly accurately. calculation is sqrt(wattsxohms) on the output channel. example subwoofers are wired to 2ohms and take 500watts rms, 500x2=1000, sqrt of 100 = 31.62. So you would hook DMM to the output channel set to ac voltage, turn gain to 0, turn volume on hu to 75% or so, play a 50hz tone and slowly turn gain up until your dmm reads 31.62.

DMMs are typically 20$ for the cheap ones, which work just fine. You can get them at radioshack.