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Liquid cooling systems for amps?

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Old Jun 23, 2005 | 10:37 PM
  #1  
redbird_400's Avatar
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From: Manassas, VA
Car: 89 Formula Firebird
Engine: 305 - Demon 525
Transmission: 700R4
Liquid cooling systems for amps?

I was wondering if anyone has attempted this or if anyone knows someone who has. Pics are nice! Well.. if you dont know already alot of computers now and days cool the processor, hard drive, whatever by a liquid cooling system. Works kind of like a car's radiator attached to a hallow aluminum or brass block that is placed over the surface of a processor. This replaces the old fashion fan, but also as a given posses a danger of shorting out your computer. If I ever put this project together I'll post pix here.

If you have never herd of liquid cooling go here.
http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews/ttbigwater/

> keep in mind, vegi oil does not conduct enough electricity to cause damage to circuits and chips but! it does tent to hold hot temps.
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Old Jun 26, 2005 | 01:16 AM
  #2  
Gummie's Avatar
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From: Readington, NJ
Car: 88 GTA
Engine: 350 TPI
Transmission: T-56
Axle/Gears: 9 bolt w/ 3.73
Being a computer person and having played with water cooling first hand, I know that one wants to keep your cpu cool as you increase the voltage to it so you can keep it stable as you try to attain higher clock speeds. I have no idea why you would want water cool an amp. It's not like you can over clock them

The other problems I see are these:
- Lack of motive
- Motion. Your car moves whenever you hit the gas or brake, let alone when you hit a bump. If you had any hose that had even the slightest chance of rubbing against anything, it would. Over time it could wear through. Unlike a pc, if you were to introduce water to a system that has the potential to pull a very large amount of amps you’re probably talking about a fire.
- Warrantee (you would have to cut blatant holes in the case to run the tubing - see below).
- Having to cut holes in the amp case to run the tube through would be fugly IMO
- If there was something that needed to be addressed cooling wise, manufacturers have already done so. They don't want to have to replace fried amps. Also, the majority of amps are subjected to much harsher conditions than ours are temperature wise since they’re in the cabin instead of a sedan’s trunk.

Finally... Have you ever been inside an amp? The things that create the majority of the heat an amp produces are the transistors. They are sandwiched to the amp case, which plays the roll of giant heat sync. This presents a slew of problems if you want to cool them some other way.

- There is no room to get a water block between the transistor and the amp case, therefore you would have to devise some kind of alternative case so that you could mount the block to the transistor.
- There are multiple transistors, of varying sizes, and in varying locations. My Infinity amp has 4 banks with I want to say either 10 or 11 transistors total. While they are not all for audio amplification, they should all receive the same attention when it comes to cooling. True, the smaller transistors won’t throw the same amount of heat as the larger ones (in lame man’s terms), but they still require some kind of cooling. It would be a nightmare to design a system to cover them all.

I think it’s an interesting idea, but it’s defiantly not one that any of us can tackle. If water will ever be introduced into a car amp, it will most likely be by an amp manufacture. The most practical way I can think of is to have water run through the amp case (heat sync) in cut out journals and then into a radiator w/fan.
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Old Jun 26, 2005 | 11:17 AM
  #3  
fireturd350's Avatar
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From: New Boston, IL, USA
Car: '90 Formula 350
Engine: 383 SBC
Transmission: ProBuilt S/S 700-R4 & ACT 9" Stall
Axle/Gears: 10 bolt 3.23
I would imagine you would also have to check the conditon of the lines and fittings a lot just to be safe. Since theres not companies out there making custom universal fit Plexi cases for amps like PCs that could be a pain.

And actually there are some water cooled amps, well at least there use to be I have no clue if there made anymore or not.

We all know Bazooka screams high quality POS.


This topic has been covered tons of time on sound forums so if you're still interested check out google and you should find plenty of threads.
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Old Jun 26, 2005 | 01:16 PM
  #4  
sesand's Avatar
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Car: 1992 Firebird T-Tops
Engine: V6
Transmission: Auto
If you need cooling, just buy some little computer fans. I wouldn't mess with the liquid, either.
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Old Jun 26, 2005 | 02:35 PM
  #5  
irocdan's Avatar
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 540
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From: Granada hills,ca
Car: 88 Iroc vert
Engine: 305 tpi. cts-v brakes
Transmission: Tremec T-56
Axle/Gears: 3.23
the old school lanzar amps(when there american made) kiced *** and they had radiator style cooling too
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Old Jun 27, 2005 | 07:59 AM
  #6  
NEEDAZ's Avatar
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From: Westminster, MD
Car: 89 IROC-Z
Engine: 355 TPI
Transmission: 700R4
PITA with little to no real advantage. If you were designing an amp and need it to fit in to small places, and had room someplace for the cooling maybe. Big PITA, not worth it. The amp should handle to heat it makes. Get a fan.
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