I have a 800 watt Rockford Fosgate amp that gets very hot after about 30 minutes of play. It is installed in my 99 civic which is a very small trunk. The amp is mounted at about a 75 degree angle on the fold down seats inside the trunk. This amp is overheating (southern cal heat) very regularly and I would like to install some 12 volt case fans (80 mm or so) for cooling. I just want to know any suggestions or reccomendations that anyone has on this type of install. Also considerations with regard to power and some type of switch/control system.

Wire your remote turn on wire to the control of a relay (typical automotive relay, aka Bosch relay, will work fine). For a Bosch relay that's terminal 85. Ground terminal 86. Run constant +12V (for instance from your distribution block or your amps +12V terminal) to terminal 30. Attach terminal 87 to your amps remote turn on and also to + wire of fans. Ground the negative wire of the fans.

If it's a small enclosed area (like amp mounted under plexi or similar), you're better of with all fans pushing or pulling air at one end, and a passive vent at the other end, instead of pushing in air at one end and pulling out at the other.

/Michael

thanks for the advice, i orderd some stuff that should arrive next week. The only other thing is what type of glue or epoxy could I use that is designed to bond plastic to metal and resist heat of 100-170 F ? Or would some other type of mounting or attachment be more advisable?

I'm sure there's specific epoxies that would claim to work but I'd find it hard to trust them, especially with the likelihood of putting something into the trunk that bumps it.

Do you have the amp mounted so that the fins are vertical or horizontal? Vertical would allow the heat to rise up over the fins a little bit better - in IASCA competitions (once anyways) the judges would look for that actually.

Are you feeling brave? Are looks important? Have you considered taking the case cover off of it? It's almost assured to be using the case itself as a large heatsink, but you may find a spot in the middle that isn't touching anyhting. Perhaps cut a large hole into that and nount a fan right over it? Something like a computer case fan in reverse. Of course you'd need somewhere else for the air to blow out of.

Anyway that you do it, I think that the closer the fan is to the amp the better, but you can't sit it face down on it or the hot air will have nowhere to go. Blowing down onto it, about an inch or two away...

Generally the cooling fans I've seen used involve the amps being in a plexiglass case of sorts, or an MDF (Medium density fiberboard) case with a glass or plexiglass cover. Then the fans are mounted to one side of the case, with open air holes on the other side for the hot air to escape through. If you've got it on the back of a seat, that might not be too bad actually. The box may look nice (paint it or carpet it), and also ensure that the air is doing it's job in the area that you want it to be.

The amp is mounted vertical ( well mostly its still at an angle on the back of the seat) . Looks are somewhat important but I have not attempted to open the amp up, This is a rockford fosgate 800a2 amp I didnt really look to see how it opens. I really think its just overheating because the volume of my trunk is so small and the outside is so hot ~100 F . I notice much longer play time in the evening than during the hot day.

Have you got this mounted in a closed space, just under a lid/trunk cover?

When you say mounted vertical, have you got the fins of the case running vertically, or horizontally?

If you post a picture of how you have mounted it, we would be able to comment better.

It is in my trunk, which is a small closed space with no ventilation. The fins of the amp are veritcal. Any help is appericated though. I did get a relay and a few parts, I just have to hack together a solution to mount the fans.