I keep my amp(s) in the spare tire well and after say cruising around for say 1/2 hour or so the amp will cut out then come back on in like 1-2 min. Im assuming its just Thermal protection. I have its wired properly at 2ohms and it does claim to be 2 Ohm stable in bridged mode. 2ch amp incase you were guessing. Anyrate i was thinking i could maybe hook up some 12V DC CPU cooling fans and either push or pull air through the vent on the side of that panel. Do you think this would help at all? And would it be better to push cooler air from the hatch into the well or blow the hot air out of the well. I figure i can get 3 CPU fans across the width or the vent and run them off the switched 12V the tells the amps to turn on. Thoughts and idea please gentlemen. Its not cool when your cruisin with the ladies and your **** turns itself off.

 

What brand/model is your amp? Alot of amps will choke on 2 ohms mono...

 

A Rockford Power 350 or something like that. A few years old now.

 

If the amp is two ohms stable it's two ohms stable. It will probably create more heat at 2 ohms than it would at 4 ohms though. 120 mm case fans are be a better choice than CPU fans because they will move more air and will be quieter. I would suggest blowing air in vs blowing out.

Has the amp always done this? How long has it been installed there, what’s the interior temperature like, etc?

 

NO NO NO. You need to use a relay to power the fans. Must HU's will object the that much current on the 'rem' line. Keep it under 200mA (0.2A) unless you know the HU can handle more.

 

Sorry i guess i didn't describe that right. i meant the case fans the actual CPU fan would be kinda hard as alot of them or attached to the heatsinks. I actually have two case fans right now and im sure i can scrounge a third. 2nd you said run a relay. Well i guess that is doable. I could run the relay off the incoming constant 12V from the battery and tap off it before or after the Cap? Guessing before but thought id ask. Now to make sure the things aren't running 24/7 can i still turn the relays on and off with the REM wire? 3rd. The amp has done this since ive had it installed in the well. The well is also pretty well Dynamatt'd so im sure in gets pretty toasty in there, and i keep everything covered with the hatch blind which doesn't help the heat disispate either.

 

For the relay, take one side of the coil to ground and the other side to the 'rem' wire. Then take one side of the switch to B+ (big fat power wire), doesn't matter if before or after the cap (BTW search here for caps), then the other side of the switch can go to the amps 'rem' input, the fans power, fancy dancy lights, or anything with in reason.
On to the amp cutting off. Could be heat, 2 ohms bridged is a hefty load and will hake some heat if real thumping out some power. How's the gain? Can you ohm out the sub?

 

Needaz, thanks for the wiring advice.. Ill probally set it up this weekend. Maybe i can post a pic. I have two digital cameras! One should have battery power. Gains. I have them set pretty low. I set them to how i like the sound on my Max listening volume and haven't touched the gains since. And i don't follow when you say ohm out the sub. You'll have to explain. Thanks for all the help though.

 

Check the voice coil(s) resistance with an ohm meter/DMM.

 

^^^ Do you have an DMM/ohm meter? Do you know how to use it to test resistance? If not it may not be worth buying one just yet. If the fans don't fix the problem though....

 

I got my digital Multimeter i can use. I can test resistence on them they old single 4ohm Alpine Type-R's from back when Type-Rs first came out.

 

See what you get. Keep in mind it will not be 4 ohms, probably 3.5 or so, that normal. But if you see the coils coming in much under 3 ohms it could be a bad sub.