HK sound system amp overheating

[Jordan2929]

Even with all the fuss about the HK sound system not being loud, I absolutely love the quality of the system and am very hopeful ram will come through for us and deliver an update to fix the sound level problem. In the meantime I decided to explore the system a little more and found the amp under the drivers seat, and noticed how little air ventilation could get to it. I played it at a moderate volume for about half an hour right before I found the amp, and I noticed that it was extremely hot. So in the name of preventative maintenance I decided to add some heat sinks to the top of the amp, they are attached with double sided thermal tape. Updates to follow on how this setup works.

 

[Megaram333]

Simple, fast, good looking Mod.
I like.

 

[Edwards]

Love it. Can you post what sinks you used?
Wonder what effect the ventilated seat fans have on moving air down there because I plan to use them all the time.

 

[Jordan2929]

Heat sinks- https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00N42CWPW/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Double sided thermal tape- https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0751H24NJ/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The ventilated seats move much less air than what it feels like, use them all the time though.

P.S. Youll need three of the heat sinks

 

[Edwards]

Hmm. $45? Don't want to cheap out but that seems high for a "maybe it needs it" mod.

On a separate note - I wonder if you'd get better cooling by removing the third one that runs perpendicular to the other two? I don't remember any fluid dynamics so just a thought.

 

[RBRK]

Wouldn't the foam tape take away from the heat disipation idea of the fins? If it was metal to metal the fins might help some.

 

[Jordan2929]

As far as heat dissipation the direction of the fins is irrelevant, the idea of a heat sink is to add a material that has a good heat conductivity. Basically it just gives the heat a larger area to dissipate to and not be trapped in the amplifier.

And the tape I used is a thermal conductivity tape made specifically for transferring heat. It’s not a foam tape, more of a white paste just in a tape form.

 

[RichRios]

Did you take a before temp and after mod temp

 

[Jordan2929]

Did you take a before temp and after mod temp

I never took a before temp but it was very hot to the touch, but i haven't had it running long enough to see if its keeping it cooler (I only live 3 minutes from where I work, unfortunatley lol)

 

[Ezshooter]

Great post and mod! I was wondering if this system includes thermal monitoring or throttling, curious to see if you noticed any improvement in sound? Long shot I know, but I read somewhere that the subwoofer has a cutout or throttling if I remember correctly.... need to see if I can find that again.

Separate item but related - did you notice how thick or what gage the power wires to this amp are? Waiting for my ordered truck otherwise I’d look at it myself... I see wiring in the background in what I believe is black conduit (or it’s a harness wrapped in tape) but it looks like it’s for the seat. I figure a 900 watt amp has 4 gage running to it (or it’s not a 900 watt rms amp....).

 

[Jordan2929]

Great post and mod! I was wondering if this system includes thermal monitoring or throttling, curious to see if you noticed any improvement in sound? Long shot I know, but I read somewhere that the subwoofer has a cutout or throttling if I remember correctly.... need to see if I can find that again.

Separate item but related - did you notice how thick or what gage the power wires to this amp are? Waiting for my ordered truck otherwise I’d look at it myself... I see wiring in the background in what I believe is black conduit (or it’s a harness wrapped in tape) but it looks like it’s for the seat. I figure a 900 watt amp has 4 gage running to it (or it’s not a 900 watt rms amp....).

That'd be cool if you could find that article again. And as far as the power wires goes I went out and checked and found that there are two plugs (about 10 wires each) that are plugged into the amp and each plug looks as if it has a power and ground wire that look to be 8-10 gauge, plenty for a sound system that most likely peaks at "900 watts"