Stereo keeps shutting down

[qubb]

Hi I'm new here at the forum, so don't know if it's the right place to post this thread.

But I have a question about a stereo me and some of my friends built for a festival last year. It worked very well during the first couple of days, but we didn't use that excessively.When we tried to put together some bigger parties and played louder and for a longer time, it either "shut down" or sounded like when you pull out the jackstick for your earphones half way out of your ipod (if you see what i mean). We think it can be something with the amp overheating of some sort, but are not sure. And if it is that, can you guys help out with some kind of solution?

Thanks

 

[pinkmouse]

I've moved your thread to a more appropriate area, (I think ). /

We need more details, what is the amp, and do you have a schematic? And can you give us more info on the speakers you were driving with it?

 

[qubb]

Thank you for moving it!

I don't have it here at my house, but I'll check it out and get back with the info. What is a schematic. I'm from Denmark, so maybe we have it in there, but just haven't heard the word in english.

 

[tinitus]

I guess you could also call it diagram

 

[wintermute]

yes circuit diagram = schematic.

Tony.

 

[qubb]

Oh okay, we are not that skilled, so we went to a car electronics shop (cause we needed a car stereo and speakers) and happened to get help from one of the guys who worked there, so he basically sold us what we needed and told us how to "assemble" it. So basically the amp is the amp and car radio are wired to the battery (if I remember it correctly) and the speakers and subwoofer are wired to the amp of course. So we don't have a schematic per se, but I can try to figure it out, so you get all the info you need.

 

[tinitus]

moved again, to car audio


moderation

 

[Perry Babin]

Is the battery fully charged?

Does it sound OK again when you let the amp cool down?

 

[qubb]

Yeah the battery was fully charged, so we figured it was because of the amp overheated, but we also experienced it shortly after we turned it on. So it varies from time to time. Though I still think it has something to do with the amp overheating.

 

[Perry Babin]

The problem could be an intermittently bad connection on the RCA shield. Can you duplicate the problem if you move the RCA cables at the head unit or the amp?

 

[qubb]

Not sure. We will try that and if that is what is wrong what should we do? But if the problem is overheating is there any "easy" solution to that as well?

 

[Perry Babin]

The fix for a broken shield will vary so you need to see if that's the problem before any suggestions are made.

To keep the amp cool, you need to make sure that it's driving a safe impedance and you need to get good airflow over the amp. If the amp is in an enclosure, a fan will help. A fan pulling air from outside the enclosure then blowing onto the amp will provide the best cooling.

 

[qubb]

Ok, I'll give it a try and get back if it is a shield problem.

Allright, beacuse we tried to drill some holes into the "box" we made, so it could get some air, but of course it is not enough. Can you somehow get electricity to the fan only via the car battery (or stereo).

 

[Perry Babin]

You will use a 12v fan like those used for computers.

Amplifiers don't generally shut down until they're so hot that you can't hold your hand on them for longer than a second (sometimes not that long). Was the amp getting that hot?

 

[qubb]

Yeah it was at times, and then it started to sound like we had turned on a pocket radio (if there was any sound at all), but as mentioned we also experienced the amp not being that hot and still the sound was crap. But was it possible to attach the fan to a battery or in some other way, because we want to transport our stereo around the festival area and not experience the sound failures.

 

[qubb]

oh, okay I figured the fan part out