I am installing a USAMPS MD-3D between my back seat and the back firewall of my 07 Chevy crew cab. The amp will not have very much airspace around it. Should i mount a fan on the heatsinks to get more airflow? I mounted a Sony amp in this location a few years ago and had overheating problems... not sure if that is a sony specific problem or if its a problem with too little airspace around amp. If you guys think i should mount a fan on the sinks would like a computer case fan work? ground it to the frame and use the remote wire for the power?
Nope, that would be too much of a load on the headunit. You would have to use a relay or a switch. Relay is preferred. I put my voltmeter on a switch and I always leave it on accidentally.
Get the amp and wire it correctly, also i forgot to ask before my last comment; which sony amp are you talking about and what sub(s) did you wire it to? also what configs were the subs? svc 4 or what not? or dvc? and if dvc d2 or d4? and how were they wired to? Wiring could've been the culprit to the heating. Without knowing this might as well commit suicide to your new amp buddy o_o
The Sony amp setup was as follows: Sony 1100W(peak) amp. not sure of model # 2 Adire Shiva Dual 4Ohm 12' subs wired at a 1 ohm load.
It was probably just a cheap sony problem. Surely i will have to have my gains turned waaaay down on the MD3D to run a single IDMAX so it shouldn't get too hot. Thanks for all the help guys!
sony aint so good so thats prolly why it fried,im pretty sure that sony amp u had sells at walmart,if im correct its a 2 channel,and its not 1 ohm stable
not sure if it was sold @ walmart... i bought it from a car audio store that was out of business... It was supposed to be stable to 1Ohm but obviously it wasnt stable enough....
I would just run it and check the temp by hand. I use a fan off the remote wire on my older HU, but I guess the new HU are all cheap cheap cheap and can't handle any current at all in the remote wire. Otherwise look up the mv you HU can handle, measure the fan and amps you run on it. Of course you can get a relay to run it all for pretty cheap, or grab one out of a junk car. When I run older amps that get hot I use a fan.
i've used a sony amp for 3 -4 years, 1000 peak 330 rms older silver and red model, not sure of the model number. The only time it ever overheated for me was when i bridged it to 1 12" sony something... it wanged for about an hour then it would overheat, got rid of the 1 sub and went to 2 12" and just wired it in stereo, sounds way lounder and has never overheated in the 2 - 3 years since. So I would say it's a combo of sony + bridging that leads to it's overheating. I don't know anything about USamps but anything has got to be better than sony(something I learned on these forums). (even though I'm still using sony amp, sub, and HU) btw I did not get it at walmart
if you couldn't tell, I am a newb, I didn't pay attention to ohm loads, just saw that it was bridgeable and gave it a try, so I bet it would have been fine if I checked the ohms and gave it proper wiring.
I hear the sony stuff is not much good since explod came out, but the previous made in japan stuff is not bad. I just hate sony because of legal/political/technology decisions they have made.
Many budget amps will work ok, but they are not as robust and have weaker components. You can't abuse them and expect them to live as long. To make a cheap amp you use cheap old components and max them out to use as few as you can. Good amps use newer better components and don't run them as hard/hot/near max capacity.
Just hook the 12V computer fan to "ACC" in fuse pannel and this will turn the fan on when the key is turned forward to on/ACC/start and ultimately, whenever the vehicle is running the fan will be on cooling the amp, but I do have to agree that Sony amps are not very good and could have been a problem with that..JMO.