My amp is running very hot -- almost too much to touch. What should I look into to diminish the temperature?

It's a JL e4300 running Alpine's Type R 6.5 set up front, and a JL 12W3v2 D2 (4O) in the trunk. It's grounded to the plug holding the vertical seat rest on the left portion of the back seat.

I also noted that the amp cuts on and off at loud volumes (over 30). This only started this weekend, and I assume the hot temp is to blame. It runs fine at lower volumes.

Thanks for your input!

PS: It's installed hanging under the rear deck.

 

1) If it's under the R deck, is it upside down?

That amp cools through convection - the tendency for hot air to rise (and be replaced by cool air). If the heat sink is facing up, convection cools the qamp. Upside down, not so much.

(Note for physics geeks: heat does not rise. Heat radiates equally in ALL directions. Hot AIR rises.)

2) Is the back end of the amp BRIDGED to the woof? Or is it running the 2 VC's in stereo?

If it's bridged, the VC's are in parallel, 2 ohm load, amp not rated for that, gets hot, shuts off. Rewire with VC's in series, or amp in stereo (same power output either way: )

 

1) Not up-side down. Good point.

2) The sub is bridged, and connected as 4 ohm (dual coil 4 ohm sub). Or so I thought... I'll have to check now that you mention it.

Hey, I removed the sub a few days ago... does it matter if the wires go in + or -? Maybe it's not polarized right! (red and black could be switched)

 

Check if the subs have been wire correctly.
Dual 2 ohms as u mentioned, will possibly give either 4 ohm load if wired in series, or 1 ohm load if wired in parellel.

At 4 ohm load, seems like u are underpowering your sub. At 1 ohm load, power is pefect but ur amp is not made to run on 1 ohm at bridged mode.

 

Underpowering is mythical and not related to heating.

If your box has one set of terminals, then reversing polarity from where it was makes no diff... if it has TWO sets, I suspect the VCs wired differently. 2 ohm VCs should be seriesed IF amp is bridged (running in stereo at 2 ohms per side would yield same total power...)

 

Is it even recomended to run stereo signals? on a dual VC.

 

DVCs have been run on two-channel signals for YEARS.

Remember, bridged is different than mono. I would prefer to run it on a mono signal, bridged or two-channel - but I wouldn't hesitate to run a DVC woofer in stereo two-channel in a pinch - it was done for YEARS.

You do have stereo cancellation effects occuring mechanically rather than eletrcially - the two signals are summed essentially through fighting each other eletrcomagnetically rather than electrically - and while I'd not enter an SQ contest like that, it's not a big hit. We did it for a long time...

 

A little off topic though similar....my radio just went out yesterday and i'm figurin it was the fuse behind the radio cause the faceplates moves and everything but no sound or display. (at least I hope it's a blown fuse)
I was wondering, could u bump up a fuse's numerbs an still use it? Say, if a radio takes a 20 amp fuse...could I put in a 30? Any damage doing this?

 

Interesting scenario.. Sounds like the radio just gave up or something internally fried.. Just get the correct amperage for the radio.. I would not recommend going above nor below the required fuse.. But from what you describe it sound like something is fried internally.. Most radios the blown fuse would stop the radio from working completely..

 

The only reason a fuse blows, 99 percent of the time, is that a device pulled more current than it was supposed to.

So going to a larger rating lets it pull even MORE current than it's supposed to.

This is how things catch on fire.

Don't do that.