posted
one day when i was digging through my fridge a lightbulb shorted out in my head.. has anyone ever incorperated some kind of refrigeration type thing for an amp rack. that would be especially cold.. increase performance by alot. or.. is it just too hard to do that?
------------------ It aint bass till your dash falls in your lap.
posted
well i haven't done it personally, but alot of competitors have done things like that. mostly iasca though. have you seen bazooka's crazy amp coolant? But it is possible.
posted
i've seen those.. they use antifreeze.. blah. that doesn't make the amps colder, just keeps them from getting too hot. i want to chill my amps =) may be make some kind of super conducting amp that need liquid nitrogen to keep it running. hehe. that'd be the day
------------------ It aint bass till your dash falls in your lap.
posted
I've seen a GTI in calgary here that has copper tubing wrapped around his sub magnets with freon pumping through the tubing to keep the motor structure cool (Don't know how well it cool's the vc's) and the coolant tubing running under the amps to keep them cool. It actually keeps the amps cold, ie referigerator (cant spell) cold.
------------------ M.A.B. MAD ASS BASS SPEED KILLS BUT YOU GET THERE FASTER!
Posts: 510 | From: calgary alta canada | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
the only thing that would be hard, is building the lines. you'd have to have them custom made (or you could do it if your creative) for your application. the rifrigeration unit can be really small, if your not looking for alot of cooling power. look at a water cooler, it's just a small compressor and resivoir, keeps the water a decent temp, and you can always crank it down. but the compresors do make noise, a rather annoying humm, and rattle.
posted
I have designs for a cooling system that uses TEC's to cool the liquid that would be pumped through everything. Haven't gotten one to mess with yet so I don't know how well it would work.
posted
tec's? think it'd take alot of juice to power a fridge? i think that'd be cool. the freon lines all shiney and layed out real nice. that or. anyone thought of running custom ducts from their air conditioning unit? make a switch for the vacuum lines that sends all the cold through there. it'd prolly be done easiest in a hatchback or truck.. just another idea
------------------ It aint bass till your dash falls in your lap.
posted
Thermo Electric Coolers A semiconductor device that when a current is passed through one side gets much cooler than the other side. If you put a heatsink and fan on the hot side to keep it at 90 degrees, the other side will stay at 50 degrees. You can reverse the current and the one side will be 90 and the other 130. This is what is used in the 12V coolers you can buy.
Well, if you're going to go THIS crazy, why not consider doing what would make the most sense from a cooling stand-point? Pull the board out of the amplifier, make a mount for it and actually apply this cooling straigt to the transistors
In all seriousness, a water cooler would probably work the best, wouldn't take much space.. They can be kinda noisy, both from an ear standpoint and an electrical standpoint.
ShadowStar
------------------
HEY! I'm looking for a CHEAP used Clarion Thunderdome.. Hook me up!
Posts: 2578 | From: Somewhere In the Northeast | Registered: May 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
well. what if i stuck it in a magnetically shielded box covered in dynamat? that way you can't hear it and it won't interfere w/ my electronics...
------------------ It aint bass till your dash falls in your lap.
posted
You might want to consider the effects of condensation if you are going to chill your amps like a refridgerator. It would suck to be competing on a hot & humid day and then get water all over your amps/install. But if you live somewhere where it's never too humid, I think the idea is great. For a good comprimise, I would suggest running some ducting (even garden hose) to your amps from your air conditioner. That way they'll never get too cold to cause condensation.
posted
Actually, cooling amps isn't all that beneficial. Just like engines, they have an optimum temperature. Just because metals conduct electricity better when they're cold doesn't necessarily mean an amp will run better cool. The best thing you could probably do is guarantee good airflow over the heatsink. Fans work great. They're cheap, easy to install and require little power. Refrigerating amps might boost your power a LITTLE, but I doubt the money spent would be worth it considering the differences in power output from one amp to the other(same model and year).
One last thing, not all components are mounted to the heatsink, to get the full advantage of cooling your amps, you'd have to cool down the ENTIRE amp.
Posts: 768 | From: Ottawa, On, Canada | Registered: May 2000
| IP: Logged |
As with most things, I think we're just taking it to the extremes
Yes, transistors have an ideal temperature and the resistance of carbon resistors changes with temperature, therefor making the amp a temperature different than the manufacturer's intended temp would not be beneficial, however, keeping it at a constant temperature might be?
ShadowStar
------------------
HEY! I'm looking for a CHEAP used Clarion Thunderdome.. Hook me up!
Posts: 2578 | From: Somewhere In the Northeast | Registered: May 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
i didn't mean freeze the thing. and i didn't imply that to get more power. i just noticed that some amps get extremely hot, and fans can only do so much. specially if you have alot of current passing through the amp. and the amp might be mounted horizontal instead of vertical, which doens't affect it that much, but you can never be too safe w/ that $400 hunk of metal...
------------------ --I swear!! it was the air pressure that made me wet myself.
posted
I have never had any problems with fans and you shouldn't either. The only time they don't work is if they have no cool air to push over the heatsinks. Yes, you did imply to get more power. re-read your original post - increase performance by alot - hmmmm??? Constant temperature would definitely be nice on amps. Basically what I'm trying to say is fans are the most practical solution. Even just a light breeze will cool heatsinks ALOT. If the amp gets too hot WITH fans, it's probably because the amp was designed to run hot, the amp's load is too low or there isn't an adequate amount of cool air for proper airflow.
------------------
Posts: 768 | From: Ottawa, On, Canada | Registered: May 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Fine, you want to put an expensive, loud, power hungry cooling unit in your car, go ahead. The idea is good. Instead of just pushing air around, why not cool the amp. The only problem is that it's not worth it. Because: of price, noise, condensation, maintenance. Fans are great, they use air which can be designed to blow over the ENTIRE circuit board. A refrigeration unit pumps freon through a pipe, the pipe does not cool the entire amp, only strategic points.
------------------
Posts: 768 | From: Ottawa, On, Canada | Registered: May 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
ya, exactly, like 150+db is practical to listen to. car audio for fun, and blowing our time and money or something that makes us better than everyone else.
posted
um. actually. my cousin works at lockheed =) i should inquire about installing systems on jets. hehe.. "yeah! well! i have 24 THERMAL NUCLEAR cooled subs!! but i still can't hear them on take off" i'd be the first person to make the 747SPL machine. you know how many subs you could fit in one of them things? lol
------------------ -- I swear!! it was the air pressure that made me wet myself. -- -- Click the picture under my name -- mephistopheles01@excite.com --
posted
hi, these are my two cents. Has anyone seen patrick gates sq truck? He has his air conditioning running through the amp rack. Big a/c cooling tubes into the amp rack to cool the amps down. he can turn the a/c on or off. If the amps are to hot he turns the a/c on. Seems this is the best idea i have seen or heard of. He can turn the temp down up, blower motor down or up to get the optimum temp for the amps. DK
------------------ who says u cant have a beating system in a race car? http://www.metroaudiodynamics.com http://www.termpro.com http://www.scca.org
Posts: 118 | From: spl city | Registered: May 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
ur two cents are already used up. =) i mentioned that a few posts ago. scroll up. but its still a good idea. remember: ideas never go bad, they just seem bad if an idiot attemps them.
------------------ -- I swear!! it was the air pressure that made me wet myself. -- -- Click the picture under my name -- mephistopheles01@excite.com --
![Profile for [meph]](http://audioforum.termpro.com/ubb/profile_ubb62.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic