Hey, I'm installing a set of amps in my car to run my speakers and sub, anyway I wire everything up. and I was very careful to solder every connection and wire everything right. Problem is, this one spot on my headunit is getting VERY hot.

Its the rear corner, the solid metal black part in these pic:
(the bottom corner of this one..)


(on the top corner in this one...)


Everything is working fine, all speakers word, amps work, all good. Only problem is this thing was REAL hot - and no, I didnt have the heat on in the car... -

The Headunit is getting its power directly from the battary via a fused wire, and teh ground is threw the factory ground at the radio harness....

Think its getting hot b/c it dosen't have an adaquet ground?

 

First make sure the speaker leads are not being shorted out. Since everything is being amped. The headunit should not be getting hot if its not powering anything. Re-ground the headunit and see if the problem still occurs. What kind of headunit is it?

 

The speaker leads from the H/U are taped up - You think if they were touching, like the purple, green, white and grey pairs, it would cause this?

ANd yeah I regrounded the H/U, and added a line from the back of the HU to the chasis.

Its a pioneer Deh-p960MP

I also tried a DEh-p8600mp, and I had the same problem, head unit heated up in the back on the metal part. THing is, the 2nd Headunit has a heatsink on the back-maybe its supposed to get hot?

 

The part that gets hot is the heat sink for the output "IC" under normal conditions, [HU is wired to the speakers] when HU is played loud the heat sink will get hot, but if your not using the HUs internal amp the only thing it can be is the speaker leads are shorting out.

If you are not using the HUs internal amp depin the speaker leads from the plug and they will not be a problem. 94

 

The clarion in my mini van I used to roll got MEGA hot.... and the Clarion unit I used to have in the intrepid I drove would get soo hot from the cramped space for the stereo and being right below the heater vent, it's have issues playin cds.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fcm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you are not using the HUs internal amp depin the speaker leads from the plug and they will not be a problem. 94</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah I think this is the culprit - or I hope it is anyway, Thanks, Ill be back if this ndosent work

btw, by de-pinning the 8 speaker wires, the internal amp in the H/U will no work by itself? OR do I need to manually turn it off somehow?

 

Not sure if your HU has the ability to turn off the internal amp, but it is not necessary, if there is no load on it, [no speakers connected to it or no short, it will just "idle" and the "ICs" will not produce any heat. 94

 

Got it, was a shorted wire. I taped em all off individually and now its working perfect - Thanks again