I have a 10" kicker cvr sub powered by a 500 watt bazooka amp hooked up to my stock head unit (aftermarket one coming soon). the problem is that the amp keeps getting really hot and sometimes it just turns off. right now i cant even get it to turn on for more then 2 min. does anybody know what the f*** is wrong with it?

your amp is going into thermal overload protection. it is so the solder joints on the inside dont melt and the components inside break down.

there is usually a few things that cause this.
the first is you are overloading your amp. if you put a load on your amp that it cant handle, it can heat up to the point where it will trip. your actually pretty lucky if that is the case because most are shot and ready for the trash when that happens.

the second thing is, it cant cool down fast enough.
those metal fins and ridges that are usually on the amps are heat sinks. they allow the heat to dissipate away from the amp safely. if you have your amp tucked away in a tight spot where there isn't much room for ventilation or air movement, your amp wont cool down fast enough. there are two ways to solve this: move your amp to a better location or add cooling fans.



Injection is nice but id rather be BLOWN!

check your wiring. it may be a load issue. Make sure that the way the sub is wired, the total impedance of the sub, isnt too low for the amp. is it dual 2 ohm or dual 4 ohm? dual 2 wired in parallel is likely going to be too much for that amp. if it is parallel, try hooking it up in series.

Coil 1 + to Amp +
Coil 1 - to Coil 2 +
Coil 2 - to Amp -

That'll give the sub a 4 ohm impedance. however if the sub is dual 4 ohm, then it may be a wiring issue BETWEEN the sub and amp (maybe a couple stray strands of wire touching the opposite terminal on the amp?) I say this because as far as I know, that amp is 2 ohm stable, provided its the mono block I'm looking at.

Make sure your amp has decent air flow as well. Under the seat isnt that great of place to put it (if you did that), my MA Audio amp gets so hot under there it melts the plastic off of fuses.

thanks guys
i had the load on the amp turned up too high but it is still getting really hot. it hitting perfectly and not shutting off but is hot as hell to the point that you cant touch it. i have it mounted to the sub box facing out side my trunk so it is in the most open space i can put it. i was think bout instaling cooling fans but how?

only the really cheap amps get that hot that I've ever expierenced. Bazookas cheap, but I've had cheaper that didnt do that.

u mean the load on the amp was too low, amp should be able to handle 8 ohms easily, 16 ohms is what you *may* get if you wired everything in series, but not everyone even knows about that way of wiring them (they usually figure + to + and - to -, parallel, is flawless and can be left like that, regardless of the amp/sub's specs)

installing cooling fans IN the amp (like some amps come with exposed fans) is dangerous work i would think, cutting into the amp and all. however, wiring the fans up to just blow on the amp from the outside is as simple as buying a 12v DC fan, and connecting the + to the battery wire on the amp, and the - to the ground on the amp... or elsewhere as long as + is + and - is -. DC fans CAN be wired backwards, but it makes the fan blow air the other way, so if they're hard mounted into something (like a box encasing the amp for example) make sure they're blowing they way you want them to.

I'd say check the wiring for the amp both for the power, and to the subs. if the + and ground are okay, make sure the subs are wired within the amp's specs. cheaper amps usually go 2 ohm minimum, 8 ohm maximum. if everything is correct (if you're not sure, get an experienced person to check the sub wiring for you) then i'd say resort to fans.