NeverPetABurningDog
CarAudio.com Newbie
- 4
Hello friends.
My amp and sub setup in my trunk works well except that the amp overheats regularly. It's a 4-channel amp, so I have two options for wiring the sub: bridged and unbridged. When it's unbridged, it's weak but it doesn't overheat as much. When it's bridged it sounds awesome but overheats after a few minutes, depending on the temperature outside. At first I thought that the ground wasn't good enough, so I moved it to the one of the bolts on the rear strut tower and sanded down every surface until shiny metal. I also cut the ground wire down to 18" or less. It still overheats. Maybe I need a higher gauge wire? I went to this audio shop and this guy told me to try switching the sub from channels 1 and 2 bridged to channels 3 and 4 bridged. So I did. Not sure what it did. I also might need to tune the setup more accurately, but I don't know that that has much to do with overheating issues.
My car (95 Civic if you're wondering) came wired by the previous owner for a subwoofer. 4 gauge power wire from the battery to the trunk, 4 gauge ground, and a remote wire and RCA cables from the radio to the trunk. Power and ground are both OFC. Back in April, I got a used amp and a sub and put it in my trunk. I don't know much about audio/electrical, but I'll list what I know about my setup below:
The amp I got is a PlanetAudio 4-channel amp (I know it's meant for speakers, but it at least works for the sub and I got it for $50). Here it is.
The sub is a Pioneer. Don't know the model number, but the reading on the multimeter at the terminals tells me it's a 4-ohm sub. It's a single voice-coil subwoofer.
What I don't understand is what bridging does to the impedance of the circuit. From my understanding, you want to match the impedance as close as you possibly can. So, if my amp is 4 ohms, I want a 4 ohm speaker to match it. Does bridging channels 1 and 2 put the impedance at 2 ohms and make it unstable? Or does running the sub on 1 channel put it at 8 ohms and make it more stable? I don't quite understand.
Another quick few things. I have no money, but I still appreciate advice like "get a new amp" or "get a fan to blow air on it" even though I won't be able to follow through with it until I pay for college. Advice concerning the wiring will be much more valuable to me.
Thanks for the help, guys.
My amp and sub setup in my trunk works well except that the amp overheats regularly. It's a 4-channel amp, so I have two options for wiring the sub: bridged and unbridged. When it's unbridged, it's weak but it doesn't overheat as much. When it's bridged it sounds awesome but overheats after a few minutes, depending on the temperature outside. At first I thought that the ground wasn't good enough, so I moved it to the one of the bolts on the rear strut tower and sanded down every surface until shiny metal. I also cut the ground wire down to 18" or less. It still overheats. Maybe I need a higher gauge wire? I went to this audio shop and this guy told me to try switching the sub from channels 1 and 2 bridged to channels 3 and 4 bridged. So I did. Not sure what it did. I also might need to tune the setup more accurately, but I don't know that that has much to do with overheating issues.
My car (95 Civic if you're wondering) came wired by the previous owner for a subwoofer. 4 gauge power wire from the battery to the trunk, 4 gauge ground, and a remote wire and RCA cables from the radio to the trunk. Power and ground are both OFC. Back in April, I got a used amp and a sub and put it in my trunk. I don't know much about audio/electrical, but I'll list what I know about my setup below:
The amp I got is a PlanetAudio 4-channel amp (I know it's meant for speakers, but it at least works for the sub and I got it for $50). Here it is.
The sub is a Pioneer. Don't know the model number, but the reading on the multimeter at the terminals tells me it's a 4-ohm sub. It's a single voice-coil subwoofer.
What I don't understand is what bridging does to the impedance of the circuit. From my understanding, you want to match the impedance as close as you possibly can. So, if my amp is 4 ohms, I want a 4 ohm speaker to match it. Does bridging channels 1 and 2 put the impedance at 2 ohms and make it unstable? Or does running the sub on 1 channel put it at 8 ohms and make it more stable? I don't quite understand.
Another quick few things. I have no money, but I still appreciate advice like "get a new amp" or "get a fan to blow air on it" even though I won't be able to follow through with it until I pay for college. Advice concerning the wiring will be much more valuable to me.
Thanks for the help, guys.