Why are my amps getting so FU**ING HOT!!!

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

The AQ 200.2 could be done that way but not the RF

 

[Lowlacs 10+ year member]

The rf amp is upside down rendering the heat sink useless in ur case. That amp was not designed to be ran this way. Find a place to mount the amp upright and get a fan if needed. To ur ? about heat. I am not a designer so I dont know the exact physics but amps have a power supply side and an output side, both of which create heat. i dont know much about those new rockford guts but if u do some research u may find ur amp might have an issue whether it be on the power supply or output side. Eitherway start by mounting it correctly.

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

The rf amp is upside down rendering the heat sink useless in ur case. That amp was not designed to be ran this way. Find a place to mount the amp upright and get a fan if needed. To ur ? about heat. I am not a designer so I dont know the exact physics but amps have a power supply side and an output side, both of which create heat. i dont know much about those new rockford guts but if u do some research u may find ur amp might have an issue whether it be on the power supply or output side. Eitherway start by mounting it correctly.

I suppose you do have a point about the way it's mounted. Considering heat rises it makes much more sense why the sides of the amp become unbearably hot. I havent been able to really see how hot the long top portion of it gets as the AQ amp is butted up against it. But perhaps tomorrow or this coming weekend I will re-do it and mount the amp right side up. The only reason I did it that way was because of where I put the distro block and I didn't have enough 0gauge to run to the RF with it flipped the other way around. But I'll try re-wiring so the distro is on the other side. Then the amp can face the right direction. I'm thinking after doing that I should hopefully notice a considerable amount of heat loss because the amp should hopefully be able to distribute the heat more evenly across the whole heatsink with the bulk of it facing up rather than down.

Thanks

 

[Lowlacs 10+ year member]

Also if u search for some gut shots u will see that both sections(power and output) use mosfets that are generally mounted to the heatsink to disipate the heat generated by the transfer and amplification of the signal. Again Im no pro so I may have misworded but hopefully ull get the gist of it. Im sure that the amp position is part of ur problem but even rockford has a defective unit sometimes. Flip it upright and Hopefully this will solve the prob but if u still have an issue u can use the gut shots to maybe verify the source whether it be input voltage or output. Eitherway it will be a warantee issue bein the amp is almost new, I saw the thread u had when u bought it recently. Also get a meter to monitor the voltage at the amp if u havent already. Good luck man.

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

Also if u search for some gut shots u will see that both sections(power and output) use mosfets that are generally mounted to the heatsink to disipate the heat generated by the transfer and amplification of the signal. Again Im no pro so I may have misworded but hopefully ull get the gist of it. Im sure that the amp position is part of ur problem but even rockford has a defective unit sometimes. Flip it upright and Hopefully this will solve the prob but if u still have an issue u can use the gut shots to maybe verify the source whether it be input voltage or output. Eitherway it will be a warantee issue bein the amp is almost new, I saw the thread u had when u bought it recently. Also get a meter to monitor the voltage at the amp if u havent already. Good luck man.

Yeah I've seen the gut pics and I've noticed that all the big mosfets are mounted directly on the large top portion of the heatsink. Was kind of stupid of me to mount it the way I did. I should have known. I'm a computer technician so I'm no stranger to how a heatsink works. I'll be willing to bet that the heat will be alot easier to dissipate with it mounted correctly because then the heat will stay within the large top portion of the heatsink rather than migrating to the smaller side pieces due to the amp being upside-down. And with it being more spread out along the large top piece it will be able to get rid of more heat easier rather than building up in a small area.

Cant wait to change it up and see if it works //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

Also if u search for some gut shots u will see that both sections(power and output) use mosfets that are generally mounted to the heatsink to disipate the heat generated by the transfer and amplification of the signal. Again Im no pro so I may have misworded but hopefully ull get the gist of it. Im sure that the amp position is part of ur problem but even rockford has a defective unit sometimes. Flip it upright and Hopefully this will solve the prob but if u still have an issue u can use the gut shots to maybe verify the source whether it be input voltage or output. Eitherway it will be a warantee issue bein the amp is almost new, I saw the thread u had when u bought it recently. Also get a meter to monitor the voltage at the amp if u havent already. Good luck man.

Yeah I've seen the gut pics and I've noticed that all the big mosfets are mounted directly on the large top portion of the heatsink. Was kind of stupid of me to mount it the way I did. I should have known. I'm a computer technician so I'm no stranger to how a heatsink works. I'll be willing to bet that the heat will be alot easier to dissipate with it mounted correctly because then the heat will stay within the large top portion of the heatsink rather than migrating to the smaller side pieces due to the amp being upside-down. And with it being more spread out along the large top piece it will be able to get rid of more heat easier rather than building up in a small area.

Cant wait to change it up and see if it works //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[bradl79 10+ year member]

ur a computer technician and u do not think that fans help with cooling?

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

ur a computer technician and u do not think that fans help with cooling?

Well of coarse fans help with cooling...But were not talking about cooling a 1lb CPU heatsink here. Your talking about essentially cooling a 20lb LARGE piece of solid metal with a couple 80mm fans. Have you SEEN a T2500 BDCP? the amp is basically one GIANT heat sink with a PCB inside it. The back of it and the heatsink look like it's made of wrought iron for god sake lol. I feel like it's gonna take a little more that a couple tiny fans to keep that somebit*h cold More like an industrial size air conditioner hahah.

 

[Lowlacs 10+ year member]

I agree but thats when u build an amp rack to incorporate the fan to work with sufficient air flow either directed at or pulling the heat away or both. U kinda have to duct it accordingly. Hall no, a lil fan pointed into the trunk wont do. Lmao.... Now thats funny shyt right there! Eitherway ur on the right track man and im sure uve got it whooped now.

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

I agree but thats when u build an amp rack to incorporate the fan to work with sufficient air flow either directed at or pulling the heat away or both. U kinda have to duct it accordingly. Hall no a lil fan pointed into the trunk wont do. lol Now thats funny!

Well maybe I will look into building a case for the RF amp with 2-3 fans on either side in a P/P configuration. Can someone give me any suggestions on how to go about doing that? I would like to be able to still see the LED gauges on the front of the amp. Something with as small a footprint as possible and easy to get at and manage would be nice.

I havent seen a whole lot of amp rack builds, let alone ones with custom cooling solutions incorporated. Except for one by Lukethebeast101 on youtube. But that's in an SUV with alot of room to work with. This is in the trunk of a Pontiac G6 GT

And I didn't mean a fan just pointed into the trunk. That would be stupid haha

 

[2Dcore 10+ year member]

My T2000 used to get really hot. Than it decided to start shooting 4" fires flames out it. That was the last time it got hot, Lol! Fosgate makes very sensitive amps.

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

My T2000 used to get really hot. Than it decided to start shooting 4" fires flames out it. That was the last time it got hot, Lol! Fosgate makes very sensitive amps.

Well I certainly hope mine doesn't start shooting flames after only a few weeks use . How the hell do you even explain that to the warranty people...."You say it was doin' WHAT NOW????...BOB!! Come'eer, dude says his amps shootin' fire like a fuc*in' dragon".

 

[IonRL205 10+ year member]

Well of coarse fans help with cooling...But were not talking about cooling a 1lb CPU heatsink here. Your talking about essentially cooling a 20lb LARGE piece of solid metal with a couple 80mm fans. Have you SEEN a T2500 BDCP? the amp is basically one GIANT heat sink with a PCB inside it. The back of it and the heatsink look like it's made of wrought iron for god sake lol. I feel like it's gonna take a little more that a couple tiny fans to keep that somebit*h cold More like an industrial size air conditioner hahah.

Friend had an SAZ4500D that would get hot, put two 120 mm fans on it and it solved the problem.

And the SAZ is a whole lot bigger than your RF amp

 

[SounDrive Pro Seller]

Friend had an SAZ4500D that would get hot, put two 120 mm fans on it and it solved the problem.
And the SAZ is a whole lot bigger than your RF amp

Exactly. The heatsink takes heat away from the internals of the amp, but without cool air around the heatsink, the heat has nowhere else to go.

 

[Sl7rips]

Sell it and buy a BC3500. You will be a lot happier than fosgate's junk.. just my 2¢ but I believe its way overpriced and quality is not that great..