nwl88

Hey, has anyone heared of using a computer water cooling kit to cool down an amp?
I found some of these kits on xoxide.com, I probly wont need one but i thought it might be a good idea to get a radiator or water kit to keep my amp cool. I want to build a stealth box and i dont think a fan will be enough because the setup will be sealed off and only circulate warm air. Any ideas on these or any other methods of cooling an amp.

rcf22

The cooling kits on xoxide are for computers. The mounting blocks would cover about 1/20th of the surface area of an amp. I guess it would help, but probably not super well. A water cooling setup is possible, but it would have to use a mounting block that covered a large portion of the amp's surface to get adequate heat dissipation.

For your stealth box, do you want the amp sealed away also? Generally I'd say it wouldn't be a big deal to have the amp visible, but if you want to go 100% stealth, I guess you'd want it hidden somewhere. Perhaps circulation of warm air would be enough, it just depends on how much power you're running and how efficient the amp you're using is.

nwl88

I am going to show off the amp under some plexi. I hate people who hide their amp cuz their afraid someone will take their idea. I have a kenwood amp bridged and runing at a 2 ohm load. Its an outdated model and is started to loose its "cool" touch, so its probly time to upgrade. I was looking at the radiator fan kit so that might be my best bet. I dont think i want to run cooling pipe through any amps.

BZinn1

if it is going under plexi jsut make two more slots in plexi with holes venting on either end of the amp and put a Stinger fan on one end and that will pull in cold air and push out hot.......it is what I am doing for my NINe.5.........if I got room to put it in athe car any amp will fit......LOL

Tcguy85

just use a couple fans. no need for a crazy water cooling kit.

two fans used in a push - pull configuration will work very well.

one to pull in cool air to blow on it, and the other to help pull the hotter air away from it.

nodsetse

Precision Power had a line of amps several years ago that had fittings on the heatsinks ready for hoses and watercooling. Lots of people have done custom work to do the same with other brands of amps (Mark Eldridge did that with the MTX amps in his SQ competition 4runner), and people have also watercooled their subwoofer magnets. For the amps, this is usually done by removing the stock heatsink, then attaching the switching transistors directly to a new custom heatsink that contains water channels. Another potential option might be to use a TEC (thermo electric cooler), as that'd cool the amp VERY well, but the opposite side generates heat you'd still need to get rid of. With the watercooling you'd have to find a place for the radiator and fan, and then the heat still has to go somewhere, as all you've done is move heat from the amp to the watercooling system's radiator and/or reservoir. With either type you also have to be concerned about condensation (same as for PCs, but usually worse because the car is subjected to more cold temps), as you only need a drop of water to destroy your amp by shorting it out.

You can do anything, but is it practical, worth the effort, time & cost? Not for most folks, but you know better than any of us what the answer is for you.

nwl88

Alright that makes sense with the condensation. The issue with the fan is i dont realy want to have any visible vents or fans on top of the plexi, but maybe i dont have a choice. I guess i could get some of those fans that light up since i want to light up the plexi anyways.