question on installing amps upside down (kx850.2 and zx350.4)

[Bocephus 10+ year member]

i have been tinkering with 12v audio equipment for quite a few years, and i know this totally goes against any rules of thumb i have ever learned............BUT, i want to mount a couple amplifiers upside down. i have never tried it before, but like i said......it goes against any teachings i've ever heard of.

what are you thoughts on this? like i said in the subject...kicker 850.2 and 350.4 amps. they are going in my 5th wheel toy hauler. i just traded my old toy hauler off, and in that unit i had a nice place to mount everything. in my new one i have no place to go where i wont be taking up valuable space for other camping essentials. i want to mount them to the bottom side of the floor in the storage area under the bedroom/bathroom area (front of 5th wheel for those of you familiar with campers). there will be great plenty of air movement under there because i will have the storage door open with my sub enclosure facing outside. i DO NOT want to run cooling fan(s).

opinions?

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[Fiendstolemyamp 10+ year member]

If you don't wanna run any fans on them then the shouldn't be mounted upside down as the heatsinks can't work properly, just asking for problems IMO. * I didn't read your post that carefull at 1st, if theres a lot of air movement they might be ok, I dont know. I'd find a way to mount them vertically or rightside up.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

I'm 99% sure most amps are NOT supposed to be ran upside down.

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

All the dB's will fall out //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[carlosg_313 10+ year member]

I'm 99% sure most amps are NOT supposed to be ran upside down.

i heard that one too. i wouldnt risk it and run it upside down. better be safe than sorry.

 

---------- Post added at 04:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:18 PM ----------

 

all the db's will fall out //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

lol

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

On a serious note I don't think mounting it upside down is going to hurt it...

 

[Slayerx 10+ year member]

long as you're not doing anything to make it run hot to begin with, and have some airflow, you should be fine

 

[Bocephus 10+ year member]

well, there will be more airspace than in the truck of a car. it would be similar to the rear of a full size suv. i guess i shouldnt have said "air movement". its not like there will be any type of forced or induced air movement (unless its windy outside). rather, i should have said it will be in a large, open area.

i was just brain storming a little bit and thought of something. have any of you ever seen the knife storage trays for under cupboards (see pic below). if i could find some sort of industrial type unit like this it would work perfect. i could store the amps out of sight/out of mind when i am traveling and need the storage area for other things. but then when i am parked and want to set up my "jukebox", i could simply pull the tray down and be good to go. hmmmm

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

I say just mount em upside down...keep it simple

 

[jtomsic 5,000+ posts]

i just posted a site that sells industrial ones of those in another thread 2-3 days ago.. look around lol

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

It really depends on the amplifier design. Older amps ran much hotter and some didn't have adequate heatsink designs. Modern amplifiers are much more efficient. The heat sink works in any orientation, and they are on the sides now. And modern pcb's have higher heat resistance,

The concern was that heat rises and the PCB would experience more heat. You would need to be running the amps full tilt in zero ventilation in order to have an issue upside down.

What you want to do is fine. Don't worry about not doing something because no one can remember why you shouldn't do it. Analyze the situation, apply the laws of physics, and see what you get. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Bocephus 10+ year member]

i just posted a site that sells industrial ones of those in another thread 2-3 days ago.. look around lol

hmmmm.....didnt find it. can you please post the link again?

 

[bjude1 10+ year member]

I have been mounting amps upside down under rear decks in Mercedes and BMW's for years. Bolt um up and ride out.