I am almost done installing my amp into the back of my seat. All I have left is to put the plexiglass over it...but I am wondering about cooling. The amp is surrounded on all 4 sides by the inards of the seat leaving the top exposed. Am I better off without the plexiglass?

Anyway, pics to come soon. I might add a neon light in the top to make it glow but I am not sure yet.

 

unless you've planned on some sort of fan driven ventilation, putting the plexi over it (or standing the seat up for that matter) will cause the amps too cook.

For an amp to get proper ventilation on its own, it needs to be mounted horizontally so that the heat sinks face up. Mounting it vertically (like when the seat is up) will cause it to get hot, and having 2/3 of the amp facing into the carpet sure isn't going to help anything either.

 

with the documentaion on my amp, is says that mounting it verticly is ideal for its cooling. i thought that was rather odd, but it said mountin like that will help it run cooler if you have cooling problems mounting it horizontally.

 

Ok, looks like I will setup a fan...gonna have to find a relay from radio shack.

 

Here is a pic:



and the website with more:
http://myweb.loras.edu/cs262935/Camaro/amp/amp.htm

 

Looks real nice. Good job.

 

and here is the finished product:

 

Check out my install in my sig. I like the look of no fan, no plexi, and no wires. I just made the cutout large enough for the amps cover/h.sink. This makes for a cleaner install but harder to change wires (haven't ever anyways).
Oh, and my amps did overheat a couple times but that was after it had been sitting with windows up in the sun on a hot summer day. Windows down to let in some fresh air, 5 minutes later amps never had a problem. The one v12 amp for the sub has a built in fan and there is about an inch between the carpet and the amp cover, plenty of room for air to escape. Don't be too worried about overheating unless you trap it in plexi.... like you did, lol

 

Looks good guys! You might want to put an opening at the bottom of the plexi to allow crossflow over the amp.

 

Yours will overheat if you have the seats up and no fan. Right now I don't have the plexi on it at all and I haven't had any problems.

 

Any pics installed in the car?

 

I've had my two rockford amps inside the rear seat with no fans folded up for over a year now and not a single problem yet.. The sub amp is class-D so it really doesn't get that hot to begin with, the interior amp gets pretty dam hot, but again I've had no problems at all.. I was always planning on leaving the seat down since I really don't have any backseat passengers most of the time and that way the amps would face up, but it seems to work ok so I left it.. I've ran the stereo for probably over an hour and a half straight once with it turned up most of the way.. the holes in the seat are larger than the amps though, so there's a good amount of room for some air to circulate, but that sacraficed the look, I have yet to neaten it up..