Ta8210ah

Kunai · 17th February 2006, 01:45 AM

ok, im kinda new to amp chips, i have a small 80 watt amp that has an aluminum shell that serves as a heatsink. if i cut the heatsink down to fit in a new shell will that overheat the chip?

I_Forgot · 17th February 2006, 02:13 AM

There seems to be a lot of confusion about heatsinks.

Heatsinks don't magically make the heat disappear. They work by radiating the heat into the air. That takes surface area (that's why heatsinks have fins). If you put a heatsink inside an enclosure, you will heat the air inside the enclosure and the amp chip will get hot. The hotter it gets, the shorter its lifetime. If you want it to last, you must expose the heatsink to air flow in your room, not just the air inside the box, so that the temperature of the chip will not rise too high.

So the short answer is yes. If you cut it, you'll be reducing the heat radiating surface area. That will make the temperature rise. If you put it inside another box, THAT will also make the temperature rise. I think you can expect it to last about 20 minutes, depending on the size of the box and how loudly you play the amp.

I_F

Kunai · 17th February 2006, 04:22 AM

ok thats what i thought. i was going to run copper tubes to a blower type fan because i have another chip that also needs to be cooled with heatsinks. ill use the blower to force air out of the box over the copper to help keep things cool. as long as the air is moving it should work, would it not?

17th February 2006, 01:45 AM	#1
Kunai diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: GA	Ta8210ah ok, im kinda new to amp chips, i have a small 80 watt amp that has an aluminum shell that serves as a heatsink. if i cut the heatsink down to fit in a new shell will that overheat the chip?

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17th February 2006, 02:13 AM	#2
I_Forgot diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Phoenix, Az.	There seems to be a lot of confusion about heatsinks. Heatsinks don't magically make the heat disappear. They work by radiating the heat into the air. That takes surface area (that's why heatsinks have fins). If you put a heatsink inside an enclosure, you will heat the air inside the enclosure and the amp chip will get hot. The hotter it gets, the shorter its lifetime. If you want it to last, you must expose the heatsink to air flow in your room, not just the air inside the box, so that the temperature of the chip will not rise too high. So the short answer is yes. If you cut it, you'll be reducing the heat radiating surface area. That will make the temperature rise. If you put it inside another box, THAT will also make the temperature rise. I think you can expect it to last about 20 minutes, depending on the size of the box and how loudly you play the amp. I_F

17th February 2006, 04:22 AM	#3
Kunai diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: GA	ok thats what i thought. i was going to run copper tubes to a blower type fan because i have another chip that also needs to be cooled with heatsinks. ill use the blower to force air out of the box over the copper to help keep things cool. as long as the air is moving it should work, would it not?

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