Amp cooling Fans

I picked up a few cooling fans I found on sale to help cool my amps and was wondering what orientation people are putting them with respect to the amp? I would assume you’d want air blowing over the amp “fins”? This may not be practical for my setup? What’s my other alternative? What about pulling heat (air) off the amps? I’ve read of other people doing the same but never seen any pics. The fans are roughly 2.5x2.5x1 inches.

place the fans facing the cooling fins and directing air upwards towards top of compartment. Dont force the air down otherwise your blowing heat back on the amp. For optimal cooling that 500/1 would be better mounted horizontal with fins facing up. Im not sure if thats possible from the pics. Im not sure about pulling air with fans vs. pushing air on them. Which amps are overheating ?

The 500/1's will never shut off but get very hot during the summer down here. I've had the audiobahn amps cut off (due to heat)on me lately. One probelm is the audiobahn is being run @ 2ohms. I only have one of the audiobahn amps turned on, the other is just sitting in there.....I've used it in the past as a backup. I bought the fans cause they were on sale for only $3/piece.

(Message edited by acurtis_ttu on September 08, 2006)

I have been entertaining the idea of adding fans as well. My 1000/1 runs very cool and has never overheated but it currently only runs 1 sub. My 450/4 and 300/4 however overheat pretty easy. They get very hot to the touch and I get the thermal protection light after about 30 mins of heavy abuse. The 2 ohms doesnt help your situation. Can you run both amps @ 4ohms instead of one at 2 ohms ? With the minimal amp draw of a fan It cant hurt to move a lil air on the amps but I honestly dont know how much it really helps.

I figured for only a few bucks in parts it was worth a shot. I coudl run both amps in 4 ohms but that would mean a huge overhaul on how I haev my tower speakers wired...don't really want to redo that. I have (4) 4ohm speakers on my tower run in parallel, at the speaeker, so only have (2) +, and (2) - coming down the tower instead of 4 of each.

We'll hook em up and let us know how they work, Im very curious. Your running 2 sets of P80's @ 2 ohms huh ? Thats definite double duty on the amp. Running an amp to each pair @ 4 ohms would help cool things down a bit but when its over 100 deg outside theres not a whole lot one can do. Like I stated above I have 1 set of 80's on the 1st channel of my 450/4 and that bugger overheats quick. Probably not enough amp for the speakers 150x2watts.

What about spacing the amps about 1 to 2 inches off the hull wall, then place the fans at the top pulling air from behind the amp up and out?

Adam: First you should mount your amps the correct way. JL recomends not to mount your amps the way you have them mounted. They should be mounted with the Cooling fins pointed up so that the hot air comming off them leaves the amp and not soaks into the next cooling fin. Another tip would be to not mout one amp so the hot air from the lower amp passes over the amp mounted above it. Condo style amp mounting. requiers lots of cooling. Im pretty sure you have your AudioBahan amps mounted upside down as well. Might want to turn them around while you are at it. Adam Im not trying to bag on your system but for a guy that gives lots of stereo advice here on W/W your set up looks like it needs some help.

DEM ARE FIGHTIN WORDS.....

Ed I guess it all depends on how you look at it. Ed: did you wanna fight when I told you your J L amp was mounted up side down. LOL

I haven't had any cooling issues (amps go into protection) with the JL amps mounted that way. I knew they wer not installed in the "optimal" postion, but due to space restraints that was the best I could do. I didn't have a way to remove any panels to give me more space moving back to the transom. Getting the last audiobahn amp in was hard enough. The audiobahn amps were mounted upside down for asthetics/convience. I didn't want to run power down along the floor as every once in a while if somthing spills/water comes over the bow, I'll get water in the storage compartment. I thought about running all wires behind the amps but I thought I'd loose to much space raising all the amps out an inch or so. what you can't see that helps my setup is the air duct towards the bow dumps into the storage area and blows over the amps while running, it's when I'm stopped for long periods (5-8 hours) that they really start to heat up.

My input is that any circulating air will help. Definitely get some fans going as long as you have a vent where the hot air can exit. My experience is within a club scene as an installer. Our amp racks are always mounted improperly (stacked), but with adequate ventilation, there's never a problem.

Amps have issues around 200 degrees. Even if it's 110 AZ air like I've got, your amps will be smiling if you can keep the air moving.

Alright that's it.....put'em up put'em up......lol

"Adam Im not trying to bag on your system but for a guy that gives lots of stereo advice here on W/W your set up looks like it needs some help."

Bling - your a tool

Jason,for somebody trying to bag......get it right It's "you're" not your.Sorry I had too....

Cool air is the key. A buddy had his set-up with a bilge blower pumping cool air into the compartment and it solved his problems but was loud when cruising at idle. Two of my amps are mounted on a wall that is inside the cockpit area and the other is on the backside of that wall, inside the passengers storage area. All amps have added fans but the one in the compartment shuts down still (5 added fans) unless the compartment is left open (for the tower speakers). We have kicked around the liquid cooling idea a bit but seems like it will be logistically more difficult to set-up and operate but way more stable since you have an endless supply of coolant.

i dont think the jl amps will need fans.. they are pretty rock solid in terms of regulation.. however, the autobahns might..

Ill bet even the JL manual states to make sure the amp has plenty of ventilation otherwise it would not ever need overheat protection.

You really need an exhaust port for the heat.
If you mount a fan to the port blowing out may be your best bet. Really just need to get the heat out.

i have ran jl for years into pretty inefficent loads (300/2 into 2.67 ohms and a 500/1 into a 4 ohm load for hours in my car for hours.... neither broke a sweat and never a problem....the jl 500/1 handily replaced a very hot running zapco ag1000 on my subs)..