Amplifier Overheating

[SubaSteevo]

My amplifier keeps over heating. It works for about 20 mins - an hour and then shuts down. The amp is mounted on the back of the rear seat, which I usually keep up. The RCA cables were getting crushed when I folded the seat up, so I moved the amp and now they have plenty of room but its still overheating. It's a 300W Jensen amp running a 12" Pioneer sub. What are some causes of overheating?

[immortal_suby]

Originally posted by BurgundyBeast
What are some causes of overheating?

Originally posted by BurgundyBeast
It's a 300W Jensen amp

Upgrade to higher current power and ground wiring. Ensure that your ground wire is as large or larger than your power wire. Ensure that it is grounded directly to a primary part of the car's structure, and that bare metal is being contacted fully.

Four gauge wire should be sufficient for your purposes, don't go any smaller than that if you can help it.

If you already have 4 gauge power cable, then I'm barking up a wrong tree and you should tell me so.



Oh... and I almost forgot, if the amp has heat sink vanes, make sure they are oriented vertically to help the convection process.

[SubaSteevo]

Originally posted by immortal_suby

[SubaSteevo]

Originally posted by Porter
Upgrade to higher current power and ground wiring. Ensure that your ground wire is as large or larger than your power wire. Ensure that it is grounded directly to a primary part of the car's structure, and that bare metal is being contacted fully.

Four gauge wire should be sufficient for your purposes, don't go any smaller than that if you can help it.

If you already have 4 gauge power cable, then I'm barking up a wrong tree and you should tell me so.



Oh... and I almost forgot, if the amp has heat sink vanes, make sure they are oriented vertically to help the convection process.

I bought one of those amp installation kits when I installed it, I think the power wire is 4 ga and the ground is 6 ga. I'll try using the leftover power wire as the ground instead. I don't understand why the size of the wire would increase/reduce heat, can you explain? The weird thing is when it was hooked up using the high level imputs it would rarely overheat, but with the RCA imputs it overheats much more often, could there be any reason for this? Thanks Porter!

That's odd.... sounds like perhaps you have the gain cranked up too far on it. Try turning down the gain and turning up the input sensitivity, if you have such a control. (It is a Jensen after all! )

But ya, upgrade that ground.

[Tim]

Sometimes if you have the amp mounted on an angle that wont allow proper cooling it will overheat as well.

[KAMzilla77]

What Radio are you running?? (Brand/Model #)

If your radio has high volt output and your amp gain is too high you amp will most definatley overheat and shut off. Jensen Amplifiers are not built to withstand high voltage signals. Which would explain why you didn't have a problem when you ran speaker inputs.

[SubaSteevo]

This is my headunit, Pioneer DEH-5
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...092794281&rd=1

2.2V pre-amps, not high

...oh well if all goes well I should be getting my friend's 500W Lightning Audio amp for $10 when I put in his new system.