Navigation & Audio Trying to think of a way to cool the underseat HK amplifier

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Mar 31, 2019 | 03:15 PM

A383Wing

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6th Gear

Joined: Sep 2017

Posts: 1,515

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Trying to think of a way to cool the underseat HK amplifier

I bought a 2006 R52 last year, many things wrong with it or didn't work......one of the items was there was no sound from the speakers in the car....radio would play CD's, go from track to track, but no "noise" from the speakers......I kinda figured the HK Amp was bad. So I got a used amp from a member here, it worked, I now have "noise" when the radio & CD player are on

I had the passenger front seat out along with most of the interior tracing out electrical issues with the car.....as I was testing & playing the radio I touched the amp and it was very warm, almost too hot to touch.

Now either MINI or BMW engineers in their infinite wisdom decided to put the amplifier in a metal & plastic enclosed box, under the carpet, and then under the seat......now we all know that heat kills electronics, I don't care how well they are built.....heat kills!!

I am trying to figure a way to keep that amp under the seat cool for longevity ......HK amps are not cheap!! Maybe take the amp out of the enclosure, or at least take the top of the enclosure off.....try to mount a quiet computer fan under the seat to turn on with the car??

There has to be a way to solve the heat issue.......thoughts??

Bryan

Apr 18, 2019 | 04:49 AM

chris.j.lamb

4th Gear

Joined: Jan 2007

Posts: 395

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ventiation holes cut in the enclosure above the amp

Apr 18, 2019 | 11:41 AM

OCR

5th Gear

Joined: Mar 2018

Posts: 795

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From: SoCal

Yep.
There are MANY different small fans available for just purposes like you need. I did much the same thing on the regulator on one of my motorcycles. It runs hot, burned two. I installed a computer type fan...all is well, for MANY miles.

Read the fan information well before you buy. RPM, CFM, duty cycle (on some). The CFM (cubic feet per minute) of airflow is the big one. The fans blade design has a lot to do , along with RPM to the CFM produced.
Don't be concerned about the amperage rating. While you do need a 12 volt fan, the motor will draw ONLY as much amperage as it wants. So a .4 or a .9 AMP motor will live a fine life with no other intervention from the Mini's 350 amp battery.

Also remember to leave enough opening around the radio amps for the fans air to flow smoothly.

Mike