Amp Gets really hot and smell a burning smell?

**2dee11** · 08-24-2012

alright guys i know ive seen people post this a thousand times but im not sure if its a different scenario every time or not.

Im running a hifonics brutus series 1200 watt amp. found here Hifonics Brutus BRZ1200.1D BRZ 1200.1D Class D Car Amplifier/Amp

my old subs were 150 rms a piece and i smelled the smell a little bit once and a while and the amp got hot sometimes

but i recently upgraded to these pioneer ts-w304r at 300rms a piece found here Pioneer TS-W304R Champion Series 12" 4-ohm subwoofer at Crutchfield.com

i used a dmm to set them up and tune them to 34.6 volts because 300rms a piece so 600 rms times 2 ohms so the square root of 1200 is 34.6

my level knob on my amp is hardly over half

so any ideas as to why im having problems?

**blueguy** · 08-24-2012

If it's hot and smells like it is burning...it's probably burning.

**2dee11** · 08-24-2012

the protect light doesnt come on. thats supposed to stop that right?

**dsmuts** · 08-24-2012

Back when i was into systems my one amp used to smell hot once in a while. I started my car up one winter day to let it warm up and about 10 min later i went out and the whole car was filled with smoke. I grabbed the amp which was hot as hell and ripped it out of the car and threw it in the snow. The car smelled horrible for a few weeks after that.

**2dee11** · 08-24-2012

any suggestions on what i should do?

**KeithGTP03** · 08-24-2012

What size power wire? Where are you grounded? Back down the gain or series the subs to 8 ohm and see if it still gets hot.

**dsmuts** · 08-24-2012

Mine ended up being a crappy grounding job i think.

**machinegunsquid** · 08-24-2012

I'm going to vote a bad ground, or the signal wires are too small/damaged.

**GXPKILLER** · 08-24-2012

hey how do you have the subs wired?

**jteske88** · 08-25-2012

im gonna go with everyone else, grounds suck with out big three, upgrade wiring, check imdapendeace on speakers to amp, turn gain down, turn loudness off, and the burning is prolly your subs being clipped to death. i pray for your subs

**2dee11** · 08-25-2012

the only thing i can think of would be the ground. heres a quick video i took of how my system is wired up to see if you guys can tell me anything from that

**KeithGTP03** · 08-25-2012

Two issues. Clear the paint from the ground. The other, ditch the bass (gain) knob and use the subwoofer control from your head unit. And it looks like you're wired for 4 ohm so you should be fine there. Not a fan of where you ran your power wire. You could end up pinching it between your door and body wall.

**2dee11** · 08-25-2012

i dont think the door is going to end up pinching the wire it doesnt seem to be anywhere near the door. the gain knob essentially stays all the way turnt up all the time, essentially being pointless but it kinda looks cool i guess..? if i took it out you would see the holes in the cubby so im just going to keep it. i will deffinately clear the paint asap. do the spacers to get some airflow underneath the amp sound like a good idea as well??

on a side note... i mentioned i tuned it with a dmm but i tuned it with all the eqs flat and the bass booster on the headunit (not the knob, the knob was all the way up) on 0 and i usually keep bass boost at 6 and the eq on "powerfull" that shouldnt be a problem should it? thats what most people i talked to before said to do

**KeithGTP03** · 08-25-2012

You can leave the bass knob there, just unplug it from your amp. If you have it cranked all the way up, that is your problem. That bass knob is just a way to crank up your amps gain from the front seat. It doesn't matter that at the amp the gain isn't even halfway. If the knob is turned all the way up, your gain is all the way up. And elevating the amp, so it can get air under it, wouldn't be a bad idea.

As for the eq, that's up to you. I don't use default eq's. I tune it myself.

**2dee11** · 08-25-2012

im pretty sure MAX on the knob is whatever the LEVEL is set to isnt it? because i tuned the LEVEL with the bass knob turned to MAX so i couldnt go over

**KeithGTP03** · 08-25-2012

Well it depends on the amp. Some control the gain and some control the bass boost. Either option, maxed out, is clipping the amp. You can find out how yours is set up by turning the gain all the way down on your amp and see if it is still as loud. If it is, the knob controls your gain. If it's not as loud, it is controlling your bass boost. Either way, with the combo of a dirty ground and maxed gain or bass boost, your amp will overheat.

**KeithGTP03** · 08-25-2012

I looked up your amp and it appears that it is a level control. But the gain on your amp is the master and the remote will not override the setting at the amp. So, first thing I'd do is clean up that ground and see if it runs cooler.

**2dee11** · 08-26-2012

I cleaned up the ground this after noon! We'll see how it turns out.. Only problem was the tighter i tightened the bolt the more it stripped the hole and the looser it got. So I found a bigger screw and still had that problem. So I just made it "snug" and stopped tightening it. I can now move the ground side to side a little bit but that shouldn't be a problem should it? Its not easy to move by any means and its side to side movement no up and down movement. Another thing I did.. Dunno if it well make a difference or not.. But I moved the power wire from the fuse box to the battery itself. My head lights dimmed alittle when the bass hit and I'm thinkin it might be because it was attached to the fuse box and took power from the fuse box more than it did the battery so we will see if that helps at all too

**machinegunsquid** · 08-26-2012

Yeah, you should always run the power from the battery.

And you should not have any movement in the ground or positive connection. Get a nut and bolt that will fit through the existing hole, and do it that way.

Having a bad ground can play all sorts of hell with electronics, including frying your amp.