less resistance = more heat?

[CHUCKmfnNORRIS 10+ year member]

i was told he other say that lower resistance causes more heat than a higher resistance, is this true? i thought it was the other way around

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[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

whoever told you that is fuckin retarded.

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edit: you talkin about the amp getting hot? if so then yes, at a lower impedance load it has to work harder to put out more power. which causes heat. as for a wire or something though more resistance = more heat.

 

[IonRL205 10+ year member]

Wouldn't that be true though? Running an amp at 1 ohm vs 4 ohm would make it work harder thus causing more heat? Or do I have this backwards? lol

Isn't the lower number (1 ohm) less resistance than 4 ohm?

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

Correct depends on the amp but in general less resistance means more heat.

 

[CHUCKmfnNORRIS 10+ year member]

is it the the same for a 1 or 2 ohm sub putting out 1000+ watts?

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

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[IonRL205 10+ year member]

is it the the same for a 1 or 2 ohm sub putting out 1000+ watts?

1. Subs don't put out power, they take power

2. It depends on what your final ohm load is to the amp.

 

[Phoenix Risen 10+ year member]

also depends on rise.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

1. To pick a nit, resistance and impedance are related ideas, but aren't really the same //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

2. Use Ohm's Law to find the answer. At a half-ohm, you're talking about a lot more current than at 4 ohms for an equivalent power level. Most of the amp designs used in mobile audio will become horribly inefficient into such loads.

3. Like anything, there are exceptions //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[duanebro 10+ year member]

Power, resistance, and impedance are three different things. If an amp uses and makes the same amount of power, then the heat is the same. 1, 2, or 4 ohms, it doesn't make a difference.

However most amps will put out more power at lower ohms. And more power equals more heat. Example you have a 1000 watt @1ohm amp, If you run it at 2ohms and 500 watts, it will be cooler. But not because of the load but because it is producing less power. Turning down the gain so you have 500 watts @1 ohm will also do the same thing.

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

If you can maintain proper voltage no matter the current draw, lower impedance is technically cooler as there is less resistance to overcome for the current. If you are talking about amplifier components, if you wire below the nominal impedance of the amp, the amp becomes the point of resistance and therefore heat builds up. The highest impedance part of an electrical system will always generate the most heat. The smallest conductor of an electrical system (and lowest voltage) have similar effects.