cooling fans for my amp

MarkMoore · Post by **MarkMoore** » March 1st, 2005, 2:16 pm

i read on a reliable site that it is a very good idea to get at least 1 (if not 2,3, or 4) cooling fans to mount on your amp rack in order to keep a constant air flow to keep the amp cool... soooooooo, what am i to look for? where is the best place to buy these? what size, how much power, etc. should i be looking for? i have a 820W amp. i do like to listen to loud music every once in a while, but nothin crazy... i don't need the car next to me to be able to know what song i'm playing to feel cool, ya know? so with that said and now that you know my listening habits, what am i to do?

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » March 1st, 2005, 2:38 pm

Hit a computer store and pick up a couple of 80mm fans.. they run on 12 volts.. I would put a variable resistance knob (potentiaometer aka "Pot") in line so you could control fan speed. Cheap job to do.. probably less than $30 in parts.. how you mount them.. well thats up to you

Tunes67

MarkMoore · Post by **MarkMoore** » March 1st, 2005, 2:42 pm

thanks for the quick, concise, and UNDERSTANDABLE reply tunes, i appreciate it!

93SOHC · Post by **93SOHC** » March 1st, 2005, 2:47 pm

Unless you are running some serious power, I highly doubt you need to install a fan. Just make sure you mount your amp in an area that can keep it cool (not behind the seat) If you were to get one, I have seen some people use a power inverter and some fans outta old computers. Also, usually when you run huge amps with a lot of power the amps have internal fans (my boss 1400 has one, even though its knowhere near true 1400 watts)

JWMX3 · Post by **JWMX3** » March 1st, 2005, 2:50 pm

my amp has a built in cooling fan

snellgrove · Post by **snellgrove** » March 1st, 2005, 2:54 pm

some of them are liquid cooled, aren't they?!

MarkMoore · Post by **MarkMoore** » March 1st, 2005, 3:13 pm

snellgrove wrote:some of them are liquid cooled, aren't they?!

what do u mean, like you pour water all over it? that would just ruin it

MX-SLICK · Post by **MX-SLICK** » March 1st, 2005, 11:08 pm

PFFT liquid cooled, thats a bunch of BS....just some water being pumped in some tubes that does absolutley nothing...i think BAZOOKA has this...they call it "chill" lol.....Your amps wont need a fan, but if you want one i would reccomend uning computer case fans...the larger 10 and 12 cm ones....they are +12 volts aswell which makes life easier.

ScooterBovine · Post by **ScooterBovine** » March 1st, 2005, 11:30 pm

Just like Alienware computers that use water cooling are a bunch of BS?

Acamori · Post by **Acamori** » March 2nd, 2005, 12:03 am

water cooled comps work better because they use the water to pull away excess heat (just like cars do) but still have to have air flow. unless your amp is in a small space you shouldn't have any trouble with heat. both of my amps are high current (and get pretty warm) but never had trouble unless i played them very loud for a few hours while driving in the sun (before i had a hatch cover) but they have small built in fans. considering your habits, it's really not necessary to fan cool yours probably. any decent amp will have a thermal overload protection circuit that cuts the amp off if it gets too hot. until you start tripping that, i wouldn't worry about it.

snellgrove · Post by **snellgrove** » March 2nd, 2005, 3:04 pm

MarkMoore wrote:what do u mean, like you pour water all over it? that would just ruin it

MX-SLICK wrote:PFFT liquid cooled, thats a bunch of BS

ScooterBovine wrote:Just like Alienware computers that use water cooling are a bunch of BS?

indeed, or you can do a DIY setup, and let the overclocking begin good and proper!

Liquid cooling is good, it might be rubbish in amps and only a gimmick (I dunno.. I have no experience of it in amps..) but its pretty damn good in PC's, and the theory is the same.. waterblock in good contact with on the hot thing, and cool it down at the other end -beats having a noisy fan IMO...

or even better, I'd go for a heat-pipe setup.. you could probably passively cool an amp quite nicely, and tbh.. if they dont come with fans, chances are they dont need them.

MarkMoore, how long have you had this amp? I'm guessing longer than a few days or weeks or something... has it died? no.

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » March 2nd, 2005, 3:20 pm

waterblock in good contact with on the hot thing, and cool it down at the other end -beats having a noisy fan IMO

Definately a lot quieter.. but I will take a noisy fan in my computer any day over running the risk of pumping water through a electronic machine.. one leak and your machine is toast. Maybe water cooled amps have a better water piping solution than the water cooling setups I have seen for PC's. I know a lot of overclockers run water cooling in their machines.. and you never hear about the ones that have problems from it.. I know if I did that and my PC went up in smoke.. I wouldnt admit to it LOL. Different Strokes for different folks.. if you got the cash go ahead and risk the splash

Tunes67

Acamori · Post by **Acamori** » March 2nd, 2005, 5:22 pm

about frying the electronics, water itself (pure, deionized water) is not conductive (don't believe me, check it out, get some and try it with a lightbulb or something, i did it in like 8th grade). i'm not gonna try it because it's too much work.

MarkMoore · Post by **MarkMoore** » March 2nd, 2005, 8:19 pm

Acamori wrote:about frying the electronics, water itself (pure, deionized water) is not conductive (don't believe me, check it out, get some and try it with a lightbulb or something, i did it in like 8th grade). i'm not gonna try it because it's too much work.

i just took a chemistry course last semester in college and was shocked to learn that water is indeed a NON-conductor... however, if you were to put salt into the same water and test the conductivity again, sure enough, it would conduct electricity... strange but true...

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » March 2nd, 2005, 8:56 pm

All I can say is.. I hope those that are using water cooling in their PC's are using Pure H2O then

Tunes67