Rockford Fosgate and cap use?

[MrExplorer]

I have a Rockford 360 A2 in bridged mode pushing 2 10" rockfords in parallel (2 Ohms). After about 10 minutes of pushing it hard the amp shuts down due to overheating. I have a 6 gauge wire running to the amp and a good ground. My voltmeter does not vary at all during pumping. I have varied the gain also to see if it was clipping and causing it to overheat. I didnt have this problem at all with my kenwood amp being used to push the subs. From what im told is that the Rockfords have to have a cap installed or they will do that. Has anybody heard the same thing or has had the same problem?

 

[pband599]

The problem is the 6awg won't run enough juice, go with 4awg (or if your hardcore 0awg) power AND ground (if the ground is smaller than the power, it may cause problems like want you are having) with a cap inline. that should solve all your woes, and remember bigger & better amp, bigger & better speakers & bigger & better wire = bigger & better sound.

And for those how are wondering I'm an electronics major.

 

[Rscotts1]

Welcome to the site pband599!! Good to know that we have an electonics major in the forum.

 

[MrExplorer]

The fuse rating for the amp is 40 amps. 6 AWG has a rating of at least 80 amps. Rockford recomends at least an 8 awg wire for my amp. I also found something intersting on the rockford site, they only recomend going down to 4 ohms with a amp bridged.I may run it in 2 channel mode to see if it helps the situation. Im running a Kenwood Excelon 401M at 2 ohms and running off of battery in my boat. This amp has never shut down. Adding a cap to the incomming power line to the amp seems to be a gimme when your using a Rockford amp for bass. Kind of a shame to spend that much money for a amp and have to tag on another $100 for a cap.

 

[pband599]

But the amp will only pull as much as it needs. I have 4awg in my setup, and I'm only running at 250w @ 2ohms into 1 channel (monoblock).

By "bridged" do you mean (the speakers wired) in parallel or running a 2 channel amp on only one channel, because depending on the amp the latter maybe only half off the power and might not be able to handle 2 ohms and overheat then shutdown.

Adding a cap is like adding a lake to the middle of a river, if the bottom of the river needs more water, it pulls it from the lake and not from the riverhead or the river it self. that was kind of confusing but it made sense to me when I was told it.

Also, see if there is a local stereo shop has any other recommenations, after all they are the pros.

Good luck with it.

 

[Van I.]

You got it correct with the 2ohm bridged mono load. Only the mono blocks are stable to 2ohm mono. Another member on this site fried his amp running it at 2 ohm bridged mono when it was only stable at 4ohm bridged mono.

good luck.....

 

[MrExplorer]

Yes bridged i mean a 2 channel amp run in mono. And both subs are wired in paralell to achive the 2 ohm load. Like i said in the previous post the wire is capable of delivering twice the fuse rating of the amp. I would think it would be a problem with undervoltage instead of undercurrent. Yes i know voltage and current go hand in hand. A 40 amp fuse can deliver more than 40 amps but not for extended periods. I know the cap can also keep the voltage-current at a acceptable level for the amp. But i think i stumbled on the key to the problem. I will try running it in stereo when i get the time to rewire it. I think the amp is capable of running in bridged at 2 ohms providing the voltage-amperage is there for its apitite.

 

[pband599]

Originally posted by Van I.
You got it correct with the 2ohm bridged mono load. Only the mono blocks are stable to 2ohm mono. Another member on this site fried his amp running it at 2 ohm bridged mono when it was only stable at 4ohm bridged mono.

good luck.....

Actually there are some 4ch amp that are .5ohms (yes that is point five), but cost $2500 and are rated 4x25w into 4 ohms, but when the impedence (number of ohms) goes down the power multiplies up to 3000w x 2 into .5ohms. An example of that setup would be 8 4ohms subs all wired parallelly, so if you think about it each speaker only gets about 375w.

I say if you got the money...

 

[expo5.0]

you really shouldn't need a cap. i used to run two 1000 by one power amps that each powered their own hx2 dvc 12 with no cap and no problems. i know a cap would have helped, but it was a temperary system and i knew it would be out in a few weeks and the future buyer already had the caps he wanted. anyways, the point is it sounded great and worked fine.

 

[davesexplorer]

just sounds like your problem is the 2ohm bridged, what kind of rockford subs are they. try runnin a sub to each channel, if thats not enough power to push them get a better amp. The wiring you have should be fine for this application, 4 guage would b better but if im correct i dont think it will connect to your amp. As for a capacitor, first make sure your other stuff is working good first, BATT, ALT, etc. I dont think youll need a cap, unless something is not working right.

 

[MrExplorer]

Running in stereo now, 4 ohms per channel of the amp. Problem is slightly better. Have ordered a 1 farad cap to see if that improves the situation.