Orion amp way too hot??
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Unregistered guest | Can't seem to trace the root of my problem. Maybe somebody can point me in the right direction? First I'll detail the specs of what's running in my car, and then I'll give an overview of my wiring to hopefully rule that out as a source of the problem. So if you want to skip to the meat of this thread and find my problem - scroll down some  Setup Specs: Orion 4004 ---- 50x4 @ 4 Ohm Stereo ---- 100x4 @ 2 Ohm Stereo Orion 3002 ---- 75x2 @ 4 Ohm Stereo ---- 150x2 @ 2 Ohm Stereo 2 x Eclipse SE8363 6.5's [Front] ---- 40W RMS / 70W Max 2 x Eclipse SE8493 6x9's [Rear] ---- 75W RMS / 150W Max Kenwood Excelon KDC-X589 ---- 3x4v Preamp Outputs (Subs coming soon...) My Wiring: I'm running a Directed Audio 2-amp wiring kit, 4 Gauge power wire off battery to a fuse block 1 ft away, then run all along the length of the car to another fused distribution block in the back. From that distribution block it goes to an 8 gauge power wire to the amp. 4 Gauge ground wire from the [-] terminal on the battery to a part of the chassis 1ft away, secured firmly with a bolt. Ground wire from amp is 8 Gauge, 1.5ft cable, also firmly secured with a bolt into the chassis. Filed away paint on the chassis and got to bare metal on both grounds. My RCA cables from the head unit are run on the opposite side of the car than where I ran the power wire. Ummm... speakers are now running on either 14 or 16 Gauge wire, not sure which it is - but its not the flimsy cheap stock crap that comes in the car. The Problem: Just bout two new amps, an Orion 4004 and Orion 3002. I had the 4 Channel one hooked up to my speakers, and if I ran it for more than 40 mins it would simply stop giving me any output on my speakers, and after about 3 mins it would come back on. Then after playing for another 10 mins, it'd cut off again. Repeat process of cooling for 3 mins... play another 10. Etc, Etc, Etc. The amp is mounted in the trunk of my car, nothing is sitting on top of it or piled around it that would be causing it to heat up and get so hot. And when I say hot, I mean if I touch it for more than a second it would burn me. I'm guessing that temperature would be about 190 degrees F... considering the "Troubleshooting Tips" in the install book for the amp says thermal protection engages when amp heatsink temp exceeds 190. And their solution to this problem is make sure the amp has plenty of room to breathe... which if you ask me, it does. I just bought these recently, so I went back to the place I bought them and asked why it was doing that - they didn't seem to give too much help. They put a multimeter up to the connections to make sure I didn't have a short on any of my speaker wiring or anything like that, and it all was ok. They recommended me shortening my ground wire from the amp (it was about 5ft). So, I shortened it to 1.5-2ft, and they said if that didn't fix it, then we'd send it off to Orion. Shortened the ground wire, still got the same problem. So we boxed it back up and sent it to Orion two days ago. Because this left me audio-less in my car for the time being, I decided that I could just throw my 2 Channel 300W amp in there, and use it to just power my rear speakers so I'd at least have some music. So, I took it out of the box, put 'er in the trunk, hooked up the cables, and yay I got me music again. So today I was like well... it feels kind of hot after running for about 20 mins - I wonder if it'll do the same thing the other amp was doing. Sure enough, after about an hour it cut out and was burning hot.  Now, I've searched the forums and noticed that most similar problems are related to crappy amps which run extremely hot and cut out, or trying to power a lower impedance than the amps are rated (usually those posts are more related to subs, and people not having problems with their amps just powering their front/rear speakers...) But - I dont think either of these problems are what I am running into. So - if anybody has any ideas, please, throw them at me. |
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Gold Member Username: CarguyPost Number: 3502 Registered: Nov-04 | Did you say you have 8 gauge ground wire? Why? It should match your power wire. So if you have 4 gauge pos, then get 4 gauge ground. What was the gain/level set on the amp? It sounded like it wasn't set to match your HU. For example, if your HU put out 4v and on the amp you have the gain open or set to 2v, it WILL overheat in time. Orion is a good make, so I'm guessing the speaker's ohms are below 2ohms or the gain/level wasn't set right. |
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Unregistered guest | The 4 gauge power wire runs the length of the car into a distribution block which I connect two 8 gauge power wires to - one for each amp. So I'm also using an 8 gauge ground wire from the amp to match the 8 gauge power wire that is going into the amp. The gain is set somewhere around 2/3 the way up. How would I go about finding the optimal setting on the gain to prevent it from overheating (if this is the problem?) And - how could I double check the speakers to make sure they're not below 2 ohms? |
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Gold Member Username: CarguyPost Number: 3504 Registered: Nov-04 | Use DMM and measure the speaker resistance. If it's below 2ohms then that is a serious problem. sometimes a strand exposed can short out. Check your HU's manual. It should list the RCA preout volts under the spec section. Most common HUs are 4v. Some are 8v or higher. Also check the amp's manual for gain/level setting. If it has a max of 8v, then you set the control half way. If it's 4v max, and you have it set to 2/3, then it will overheat. I would replace the 8 gauge ground wire. On the pos, you're converting 4 gauge to 8 gauge, but on the ground, you are starting off with 8 gauge. Not a wise choice for the future. |
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Gold Member Username: GlasswolfWisteria, Lane USA Post Number: 7901 Registered: Dec-03 | having skipped most of the thread, so forgive me if I missed something, I didn't see you note what speakers are connected to which amplifiers, and if they're in series, parallel, one per channel etc.. aside from that my first guess is that if the amps aren't wired at too low of a load, then the gains are turned up too high, causing the amps to clip and go into thermal protection mode. set the gains properly as per guides offered on www.bcae1.com if after doing so, you feel the amplifiers aren't giving you enough power, don't compensate by using the gains.. it just means you need a larger amp or different setup. if the speakers seem abnormally quiet, check wiring phase/polarity and see if one is out of phase. |
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Justin M Unregistered guest | Head Unit: Preouts are 4v Gain settings: 200mv to 5v |
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Justin M Unregistered guest | and by it saying my gains are set to 2/3 the way up, I mean that if I were to turn it to 3/4 or all the way up, the music I hear on my speakers would be louder the speakers connected are just a single front or rear speaker per channel on the amp. nothing in series, parallel, bridged, etc... |
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Gold Member Username: GlasswolfWisteria, Lane USA Post Number: 7936 Registered: Dec-03 | set the gains properly.. as noted above. |
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