2004 Ford Freestar SE

Has anyone put an empeg into one of these babies yet? I am trying to decide on a color then I'll place my order for one. And for my next question, is there anyone willing to help me install it? I can't afford a professional install this time around and I'm willing to drive a ways for help. I guess I'll need help getting all of my stereo equipment out of my present Dodge Caravan also.

Aren't these things like 2 days old?

Edit, just found that the launch date was Aug. 25th.

You would think that somebody would have one by now with an empeg in it Maybe I can go look at one at a dealership this weekend.

I went and looked at it today and I have to say that I am very disappointed with the sound system setup in this van. It's going to be a bitch to install what I have now. Crap

No empeg until I get it installed next week in my new van that I am picking up tomorrow morning. I had all of my equipment pulled out of my old van tonight. I'll have to suffer with listening to a radio and cd-player for a few days.

I haven't had it installed yet but I have noticed when pulling out a CD or tape after they have played, they are very hot to the touch. Is this going to cause a problem with the empeg getting too hot? Any ideas?

I haven't had it installed yet but I have noticed when pulling out a CD or tape after they have played, they are very hot to the touch.

I've noticed that a lot of car CD players run particularly hot, I don't know why.

Is this going to cause a problem with the empeg getting too hot?

If the empeg is mounted up against the CD player, then yeah, it might.

Any ideas?

Yeah, put in a cooling fan.

I've noticed that a lot of car CD players run particularly hot, I don't know why.

Maybe because the amps are internal on most CD players?

I plan to remove the CD player so maybe I am safe. I thought it had more to do with running the defroster or upper heat vents than with the CD player itself. Thanks for the help.

Maybe because the amps are internal on most CD players?

I've seen it with CD players that had outboard amps, too, so no.

I've noticed that a lot of car CD players run particularly hot, I don't know why.

Me neither. The CD player in my Focus occasionally gets so hot that it stops playing the CD.

Fortunately, it's booked in with Cambridge Car Audio early in the New Year. I won't have to put up with CDs for too much longer.

Is it possible it's too close to heating system components?
I remember that in my old VW Polo my empeg would get "frozen" since it was right underneath the AC.

The heater/AC vents definately play a role in the Polo - in the summer the empeg can downright COLD to the touch, and in the winter, with the heater blasting full tilt, it can get uncomfortably hot to the touch...

Haven't installed it in my Pug 206 yet, so will have to wait and see how it is in that one - but the vents are right above the DIN slot in that one too...



/Michael

Anyway I never had problems because of that. My empgeg was in a Polo for two years... It seems to be pretty resistent to temp excursions...

Did get an occasional high temperature warning from HiJack, but no real trouble here either...

/Michael

The install isn't quite finished yet, it will be tomorrow when the custom sub box gets installed, but yesterday on my long 10 hour trip, I noticed that the empeg was up to 132 degrees. I pulled it out for a while and turned the heat down in the van and after that it got no hotter than 120. But what is an unsafe temperature for it to get to, I've never set the temperature alarm in hijack.

I think the general warning on the hard drives is abot 131F, so you were right at that limit. I have left my empeg in the car during the summer months, and have had to hold the unit in front of the AC to get it to go below the warning level. Though no matter how hot it was, it always seemed to play.

Thanks Tom. Maybe I'll go ahead and set that level in hijack so I don't go over it again.

The install is finally done but so boring compared to all of the ones in really cool cars. Maybe I'll get around to taking some pictures of it.

Well, I set that level in hijack and end up having the alarm go off about every hour. I guess that I am going to have to look into mounting a fan inside the empeg to keep it cooler. There is a lot of open space above, below and behind the sled but the heating duct must be behind it and I either have to keep pulling the empeg out to cool off or be cold driving.

Funny that. I just heard the high temperature alarm for the first time since coding/testing the feature a couple of years ago! About 6 hours of driving with the heat on "HIGH" yesterday, and a gentle but insistent long beep tone began to play. Softly at first, then more and more insistent until I clued in!

Cheers