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Is heat damaging - amp question

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Old Jun 17, 2003
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Exclamation Is heat damaging - amp question

Ive got a rockford amp and its about 2 years old.
Today i touched it and it almost burned my fingers...Its getting so hot..I have it behind my single enclosure its a large single...and i guess its not getting enough air...Im trying to mount a computer fan...mabye it will help..

But is this heat damaging...Should i fix this problem immediately..or can my rockford handle it...Is it some sort of feature where the amp cuts off to prevent heat damage? because its doing that now.
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Old Jun 17, 2003
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really depends on how much heat it is. computer fan will work if you take of a cover, cop a hole in it, and mount the fan
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Old Jun 17, 2003
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All Rockfod amps have thermal protection circuitry and if the amp gets too hot (as determined by the temperature ratings on the FET's) the amp will turn off.

~Tbone
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Old Jun 17, 2003
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I guess thats what its doing...So if i have a computer fan aiming to it, it should keep cooler for longer or stay on for longer..Correct?

or is the computer fan not blowing enough air to do so
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Old Jun 17, 2003
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well, if it doesn't ever turn off on you, i wouldn't go theu all the hastle with puttin a fan in
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Old Jun 17, 2003
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heh, it does turn off...if im in the car for a while bumpin real loud
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Old Jun 17, 2003
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yeah, that is the thermal protection turning on...what is the load impedance as seen by the amp? How long can you play your stereo before it turns off? I am VERY interetsed to know since we are in the design stages for 2004 RF amps and real world feedback is the BEST kind. Please desicribe your system, maybe even include a pic or drawing.

~Tbone
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Old Jun 17, 2003
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To be honest my system is not complete...Its rigged off the factory cd player:

From the factory cd player im getting the RCA signal from the front speakers. Im running 4awg wire from the battery to a distributor (originally it was for 2 amps) but now im just running an 8awg wire to the amp from the distributor... And i have a 8awg groud wire to the chassis....Im running the 500a2 RF amplifier (US version)...The amp is powering a JL Audio 12 W3 D4...the amplifier never used to turn off...The car i used to have i had the amplifier in the fender behind the carpet and it would turn off often...But this is the first time it cutoff in a while. Today i was running the system almost at full volume for about an hour till it cut off for about one minute and came back on.


btw i think the sub is 4 ohms

Last edited by cdmx; Jun 17, 2003 at 11:32 PM.
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Old Jun 17, 2003
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RF amps are the best, i would never buy anything else.


Excellent for their price.
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Old Jun 17, 2003
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yea, i'd try a fan, from what i can gather, your amp is in a small area of your trunk that doesn't have a lot of air circulation, try a fan, it may help or try moving the amp to where there'smore room for it to breath. sorry i can't help ya more, but w/o seeing it, this is about the best i can do

~Tbone
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Old Jun 19, 2003
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extreme heat is damaging to all electronics. period.
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