# Liquid Cooled Amplifier?



## djbreal87 (Jun 24, 2012)

Alright everyone, I thought of an AWESOME idea, and was wondering if it could possibly work.

Anyone ever seen those computers, mounted in a fish tank, with mineral oil (non conductive) and using a liquid cooling circulant on the tank of oil to regulate tempurature? 

Why hasnt anyone done this with an amplifier? I mean, how awesome would it be to have some plexi glass tank, with your amp mounted in it, with some leds, sealed in mineral oil for heat disspersion? Is it because the amplifier simply puts out too much power? Too much heat? Thoughts on this and the possibility of doing it? 

Also is there anyway to cool the coil of a subwoofer while its playing? I mean, if a car engine can have coolant running through while its on, why hasnt anyone tried figuring out how to use ideas and examples from other moving parts that are cooled and put that towards the motor on a subwoofer? A coil's RMS rating is directly linked to the amount of heat it can safely handle and dissperse, so if we can cool down the coil, would that not increase its RMS capabilities?


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## djbreal87 (Jun 24, 2012)

Also, this is not a typical water cooling system if any of you might be confused. This is straight up, full submersion of the amplifier into mineral oil. Link provided is to a PC company that builds cases for computers. Exact same concept as my idea for the amp (and where I got my idea from) also I did some google searches and found tons of people wanting to water (and even hydrogen cool) there amplifiers using the standard water cooling pc equipment, but I have found nothing like this so far. 

Custom PC; Mineral Oil Submerged Computer


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## theoldguy (Nov 17, 2009)

That particular case doesnt look too sealed. I imagine in a mobile application it would slosh around and spill. 

I understand you are thinking outside of the box, but unless you are trying to "overclock" you amps, the cooling method on/in the amp is sufficient.


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## eldondo (Jul 1, 2014)

djbreal87 said:


> Alright everyone, I thought of an AWESOME idea, and was wondering if it could possibly work.
> 
> Anyone ever seen those computers, mounted in a fish tank, with mineral oil (non conductive) and using a liquid cooling circulant on the tank of oil to regulate tempurature?
> 
> ...


ive also been thinking of using water to cool my amp,or air conditioning, my glove box is aircon...it came that way from vw


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## bobduch (Jul 22, 2005)

There were a few threads on this a ways back (could have even been from ECA days-I'm old and can't remember) including some liquid cooled installs. Only time you should possibly need that is if amps are mounted in very small space with no airflow. If the space is that small maybe not enough room for liquid cooling. And a fan is simpler and cheaper.


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## abusiveDAD (Jan 7, 2009)

The Simpson's did it...
I mean, Buwalda did it.

His Altima had a DLS liquid cooled set-up


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## schmiddr2 (Aug 10, 2009)

Using mineral oil like this is a very interesting idea, but you can just buy a more powerful amp that will be able to dissipate heat better.


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## etroze (Dec 24, 2013)

Pretty sure back in the day bazooka had liquid cooled amps.


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## soccerguru607 (Nov 4, 2009)

90's PPI Art series had liquid (water/coolant) kit


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## locotony (Feb 28, 2009)

I thought the gen 4 Orion HCCA's had a liquid cooling modification but I don't remember if the kit ever was available.


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## ilikepinktacos (Jun 14, 2013)

Don't forget PPI art series amps could have been ordered with liquid cooling. I believe the heatsinks had channels machined inside and when you specified liqid cooling, they added the connectors on the end plates. Also had a thermostatically controlled fluid pump to regulate flow.


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## ilikepinktacos (Jun 14, 2013)

I seem to remember a SQ competition car years ago with water jackets clamped to the sub magnets. Seems like a lot of effort for very little gain.


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## qwertydude (Dec 22, 2008)

The funny thing abut those liquid cooled amps is that you still will have problems with caps and inductors on the boards inside overheating. The only thing liquid cooled amps end up cooling is the FET's and output transistors. I've definitely had caps swell and inductors blacken long term with amps mounted in high heat areas. A fan blowing through the vents in the amplifier and across the heat sink is still the best option for cooling.

Those cheap lightning audio amps still have one of the best implementations for air cooling I've seen. The fan definitely blew plenty of air past all the possible hot components.


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## seafish (Aug 1, 2012)

If you actually read the link that you poseted, the site that you linked to pretty much sums it all up--this unit is not about the cooling factor but rather about the bling factor. I feel that mounting a well designed and well built amp in a decent location will give that amp all the cooling it needs.


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## jbowers (May 3, 2009)

Peltier cooling would be insanely effective. You could bring an entire chassis to sub-zero temperatures easily. The only issues would be power consumption and protecting components from condensation if you aren't careful with the setup.


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## Rodek (Aug 19, 2006)

etroze said:


> Pretty sure back in the day bazooka had liquid cooled amps.


Yes they did. I have a pair of the amps that are liquid cooled capable. They were part of their MGA series. MGA 4150, MGA11000H and MGA11500H.


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## djbreal87 (Jun 24, 2012)

I have always read that there were production liquid cooled amps, why the discontinue? I mean, its a neat idea and efficient I would assume, and not too much hassle I would think. So why dont we see them more?


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## Rodek (Aug 19, 2006)

djbreal87 said:


> I have always read that there were production liquid cooled amps, why the discontinue? I mean, its a neat idea and efficient I would assume, and not too much hassle I would think. So why dont we see them more?


I agree that its a neat idea. I'm not too sure why we don't see it more today. My guess would be cost complexity and the ability of modern class d designs to stay cooler during operation versus older designs.


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## Rodek (Aug 19, 2006)

Here's a link to Bazooka's CHIL system. You could even cool your woofers with this set up! 

Link:

BAZOOKA Mobile Audio - Products Mobile Audio


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## djbreal87 (Jun 24, 2012)

Yea the additional cost is probably what is the limiting factor. Though it would be a neat home project to do with a PC Water Cooling kit, but I still want to submerge my Amp in Mineral Oil in a sealed plexi glass container lol


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

you also have to consider how quickly the cooling system can cool the device. 

as an example:
If you have a 1 amp device and put that device in a cooling system that super freezes the heat sink, it will still only be able to pass so much current. You might get a little more out of it, but if you try to pass 2 or 3 amps the junction will still get hot quicker than the heat sink can cool it. it will still let the smoke out.

only situation you would gain is if the amplifiers are in a hot region and get too hot from being in a 150° trunk.


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## CrossFired (Jan 24, 2008)

But won't your mayonnaise spoil if you remove it from your AC glove box?




eldondo said:


> ive also been thinking of using water to cool my amp,or air conditioning, my glove box is aircon...it came that way from vw


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## Darth SQ (Sep 17, 2010)

Why amps aren't liquid cooled?
I shelled out some serious $$$ to accumulate and recondition all my Arts so the thought of introducing water/coolant into and around my amps even though they're designed to be liquid cooled (optional) just seems like a really bad idea.
I'll pass.


Bret
PPI-ART COLLECTOR


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## eldondo (Jul 1, 2014)

:mean::mean:


CrossFired said:


> But won't your mayonnaise spoil if you remove it from your AC glove box?


as you pointed out it wasnt too well thought out...damn that mayo!


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## JoshHefnerX (Jun 13, 2008)

I don't think cooling is as big of a deal any longer w/ the newer class D amps. Heat sinks have gotten smaller and they don't thermal off as often as they used to.

Josh


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## REGULARCAB (Sep 26, 2013)

The way I see it amplifiers already have big heatsinks. Liquid cooling would need a radiator a pump, hoses and fans. You aren't really gaining much over blowing fans over the existing heatsink.


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## kkreit01 (Aug 27, 2009)

Back in the day, I worked for Cray Research -- testing supercomputer modules and systems. They used 3M Flourinert for cooling. The whole module was submerged. Flourinert was very expensive, and evaporates very quickly. It would be tough to build a totally-sealed box, but you could safely submerge your amp in it. 

Fluorinert Electronic Liquid :3M US

It looks like is goes for $189 for 32oz (on fleabay). 20 years ago, I thought it was around $200/gal. I'm sure they got a huge discount.


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## Darth SQ (Sep 17, 2010)

kkreit01 said:


> Back in the day, I worked for Cray Research -- testing supercomputer modules and systems. They used 3M Flourinert for cooling. The whole module was submerged. Flourinert was very expensive, and evaporates very quickly. It would be tough to build a totally-sealed box, but you could safely submerge your amp in it.
> 
> Fluorinert Electronic Liquid :3M US
> 
> It looks like is goes for $189 for 32oz (on fleabay). 20 years ago, I thought it was around $200/gal. I'm sure they got a huge discount.


Cray.....you guys were way ahead of the curve back then.
I remember when ASU got their first Cray.
You'd a thought it was the 2nd coming. 


Bret
PPI-ART COLLECTOR


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

REGULARCAB said:


> The way I see it amplifiers already have big heatsinks. Liquid cooling would need a radiator a pump, hoses and fans. You aren't really gaining much over blowing fans over the existing heatsink.


Thermally there is no comparison between liquid and air cooling. liquit is so much better. 
IMHO liquid cooled amplifiers would be impractical and technically unnecessary these days, it could be sick looking though.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

The liquid cooling never really worked that well back in the day...the coolant never really went where it was really needed.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

PPI-ART COLLECTOR said:


> Cray.....you guys were way ahead of the curve back then.
> I remember when ASU got their first Cray.
> You'd a thought it was the 2nd coming.
> 
> ...


It would but it died, clusters is cheaper and more productive. Supercomputers era is over.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

thehatedguy said:


> The liquid cooling never really worked that well back in the day...the coolant never really went where it was really needed.


cpu is small and heat exchanger is easy, different story with amplifiers with a grid of transistors.


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## LaserSVT (Feb 1, 2009)

Didn't Pioneer make one back in the day?


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## Darth SQ (Sep 17, 2010)

Victor_inox said:


> Thermally there is no comparison between liquid and air cooling. liquit is so much better.
> IMHO liquid cooled amplifiers would be impractical and technically unnecessary these days, it could be sick looking though.


Yep.....liquid cooling is something like 35 times more efficient than air cooling.
Also the type of metal used in the heatsink makes a difference. 
Aluminum is superior to steel by far in dissipating heat which is why almost every amplifier heatsink made is aluminum.


Bret
PPI-ART COLLECTOR


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## mmiller (Mar 7, 2008)

I don't really seen a need for it, it's a cool gimmick, but heck of a lot of trouble.


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## amalmer71 (Feb 29, 2012)

mmiller said:


> I don't really seen a need for it, it's a _cool gimmick_, but heck of a lot of trouble.


I see what you did, there.

I don't see the "gimmick". It's plausible. Actually, I don't see how it wouldn't work. It's worked in the automotive industry for over 100 yrs.


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## REGULARCAB (Sep 26, 2013)

Victor_inox said:


> Thermally there is no comparison between liquid and air cooling. liquit is so much better.
> IMHO liquid cooled amplifiers would be impractical and technically unnecessary these days, it could be sick looking though.


Oh yes I am aware that liquid cooling is capable of dissipating far more heat. Mainly due to the design of liquid cooling radiators and the fact that the heat is being moved away from the amp and dissipated somewhere else. My wording was wrong, your second sentence is spot on IMHO.

Lets also not forget the horrid EMI from water pumps. Do a search on some overclocking forums.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

PPI-ART COLLECTOR said:


> Yep.....liquid cooling is something like 35 times more efficient than air cooling.
> Also the type of metal used in the heatsink makes a difference.
> Aluminum is superior to steel by far in dissipating heat which is why almost every amplifier heatsink made is aluminum.
> 
> ...


Surface dissipate heat, steel would also work but imagine the weight of that amp. aluminum conduct heat better true that.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

amalmer71 said:


> I see what you did, there.
> 
> I don't see the "gimmick". It's plausible. Actually, I don't see how it wouldn't work. It's worked in the automotive industry for over 100 yrs.


 sure will but why? there not that much heat, i measure every amp with IR meter, hottest running amps rarely got over 90F. and those usually have huge alu heatsink bodies. Just because you could doesn`t mean you should.


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## amalmer71 (Feb 29, 2012)

Victor_inox said:


> sure will but why? there not that much heat, i measure every amp with IR meter, hottest running amps rarely got over 90F. and those usually have huge alu heatsink bodies. Just because you could doesn`t mean you should.


What I wrote was in response to someone else's comment. Stop digging for an argument, especially a philosophical one.


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## cajunner (Apr 13, 2007)

an amp designed for liquid heat extraction would probably look different than the surfboard style, you'd chimney the transistors so they could wrap around a smaller interface structure, or since vertical/horizontal is not applicable for heat flow, something could be done on a cylinder frame.

the peltier design wouldn't work, since you'd be using car power to generate heat reduction that was also brought in by car power and it would tax the system to be very effective. A small unit runs like, 6 amps and will cool the inside of a small igloo ice chest if it's closed... you'd need several units for a system, taking 30 amps to dissipate 50 amps of resistive heat.

a small condenser that ran inline with the car's refrigerant system would be cool, but complex due to the additional load, regulation, and moisture formation...

although, just increasing the heat sink's capacity by putting it in contact with the steel of the car, using thermal paste and thin kapton insulators might be another way to go.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

amalmer71 said:


> What I wrote was in response to someone else's comment. Stop digging for an argument, especially a philosophical one.


I love philosophical arguments why would I stop now?
Some people love to overcomplicate things for no reason.
if someone want to do it for the sake of experiment that`s OK but very strange way to achieve simple thing easily done by $3 fan. 
It reminds me of competition for most complicated Toothpaste Squeezing Device taking 3 story high room. Yes I`ve seen one in motion.


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## REGULARCAB (Sep 26, 2013)

cajunner said:


> the peltier design wouldn't work, since you'd be using car power to generate heat reduction that was also brought in by car power and it would tax the system to be very effective. A small unit runs like, 6 amps and will cool the inside of a small igloo ice chest if it's closed... you'd need several units for a system, taking 30 amps to dissipate 50 amps of resistive heat.


Not too mention that you can burn a peltier unit if you tax it too hard. At least liquid cooling doesn't care how hot it gets.


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## amalmer71 (Feb 29, 2012)

Victor_inox said:


> I love philosophical arguments why would I stop now?


Just because you can argue, philosophically, doesn't mean you should.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

what exactly achieved here? But it sure looks awesome scroll first 27 seconds.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

REGULARCAB said:


> Not too mention that you can burn a peltier unit if you tax it too hard. At least liquid cooling doesn't care how hot it gets.


exactly right!


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

amalmer71 said:


> Just because you can argue, philosophically, doesn't mean you should.


Yes mommy, I`m sorry.


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## HondAudio (Oct 19, 2006)

theoldguy said:


> you are trying to "overclock" you amps, the cooling method on/in the amp is sufficient.


Overclocking your amps will give you more DEE-BEEZ... don't you know that?


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

HondAudio said:


> Overclocking your amps will give you more DEE-BEEZ... don't you know that?


Sure until overvoltage protection kicks in.


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## REGULARCAB (Sep 26, 2013)

Victor_inox said:


> Sure until overvoltage protection kicks in.


But i hear Mosconi amps come unlocked from the factory :laugh:


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

Let's not forget that cars are liquid cooled mostly because it's easier to regulate temperature with water. You have a lot more control over engine temp and even specific parts, reducing hot spots. Too low and efficiency goes down and cylinder/ring wear goes up. Too hot and I think we all know what happens.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

Except that amplifier temperature easily regulated by thermally controlled fan. 
amp temp never get close to temp comparable to car engine. using liquid cooling is simply overkill.
remember those wonderful air cooled porsche engines?
they had to stopped making them when engine temp became hard to control I believe it was around 96 many air cooled motorcycles exist today and they don`t even have a fan.


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## vwdave (Jun 12, 2013)

I would t water cool an amp simply because I change amps like I change underwear and it make a mess every time I swapped out an amp.

Also, can you imagine what happens when the liquid pathway springs a leak? Cap replacement would be the least of your worries.

I think it's a cool idea but it just doesn't make sense for a manufacturer to build. If someone on here wants to go through the trouble and expense, then go for it.

I work with some lower powered peltiers that might work, but the condensation buildup would be an issue. Too much designing and cost that won't improve sound quality one bit. I'd rather spend that time and money upgrading my amps with better components.


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## Darth SQ (Sep 17, 2010)

vwdave said:


> I would t water cool an amp simply because I change amps like I change underwear and it make a mess every time I swapped out an amp.
> 
> Also, can you imagine what happens when the liquid pathway springs a leak? Cap replacement would be the least of your worries.
> 
> ...




^^^^
Above in bold.
Short and cuts right through it.
Best argument yet.


Bret
PPI-ART COLLECTOR


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## djbreal87 (Jun 24, 2012)

Im not talking just liquid cooling like you see on a standard PC, im talking full submersion of the unit. Wouldnt be very difficult at all to make a sealed box to hold the mineral oil, put the amp in and rig up an in out system to circulate the oil. Over kill? Yes, improvement to anything? no, ****ing awesome at car shows? absolutely lol


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

Victor_inox said:


> Except that amplifier temperature easily regulated by thermally controlled fan.
> amp temp never get close to temp comparable to car engine. using liquid cooling is simply overkill.
> remember those wonderful air cooled porsche engines?
> they had to stopped making them when engine temp became hard to control I believe it was around 96 many air cooled motorcycles exist today and they don`t even have a fan.


I don't know what kind of temps amp run internally but any place water touches in a car engine only sees 180-220F. I can sees an amp hitting 180. That's irrelevant though. The absolute temp doesn't matter, if water helps keep it below whatever it's threshold shutdown/damage temp is, well, it's helping. 

The motorcycles can get away with no real fan because if you have no airflow you're idling and idle doesn't require a whole lot of heat rejections. Just the very oversized fins of most airfield motorcycles is enough at idle and as power levels go up, usually road speed and wind speed does too. 

And the old air cooled Porsches. I would love to have a '97 911 turbo if only for the wonderful sound they make. If my Acura wasn't getting older and I wasn't faced with getting a new car soon I would probably get a toy like that but the timing is wrong and the prices are going up quickly. My friend had a 930 slant nose back in the day and I've never forgotten it. 

I think air cooling is prominent in amps just as it was in some cars and is on some motorcycles because of it's simplicity. To put simply, I agree with you.


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

djbreal87 said:


> Im not talking just liquid cooling like you see on a standard PC, im talking full submersion of the unit. Wouldnt be very difficult at all to make a sealed box to hold the mineral oil, put the amp in and rig up an in out system to circulate the oil. Over kill? Yes, improvement to anything? no, ****ing awesome at car shows? absolutely lol


I think the submersion idea is the best for liquid cooling. You're cooling everything, not just a couple things. Kind of the same thing air does, just more efficient. No worries about leakage causing problems like water. Do those systems use a pump and exchanger or is the mass of the liquid enough to keep it cool long enough? 

I wonder what the failure point would be after liquid cooling? On my my bicycle, I run heat sinked (finned) brake pads to reduce pad fade and ceramic pistons to reduce heat transfer into the fluid. Pad fad and fluid boiling is nearly eliminated. So I thought everything was great. Then I overheated the rotor in a massive brake failure, something that was not possible without the additional cooling of the pads and fluid. Normally pad fade put a cap on rotor temps. The only thing worse than losing the brakes is to have near molten aluminum splatter everywhere and the wheel lock up while going downhill. 

Just saying, you never know what the outcome might be by removing one failure mode and finding the next. That oil is flammable, right? Being submerged I doubt there's a possibility of fire but maybe the normal amp failure mode is ok. 

Still, I would love to see it at a show. I agree it would be pretty cool.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

It seems we all agreed that as novelty item it will be cool to have on shows.


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## impulse (Jul 5, 2014)

My amp has thermo dynamic fans and is Class D. I suppose on a really hot day, inside the trunk and playing at high volume, something like this does make a difference.










Submersed PC's is only useful for quiet computing. You won't have the loud fans of air cooling or even most typical sealed liquid cooling systems. Now most liquid cooled PC's are actually not that much beneficial at cooling CPU's and GPU's over air nor much quieter and has been proven in comparisons by enthusiasts but is relative to how much volume you're comparing. Over clocking the two processors is the reason why they do more extreme cooling methods.

For amplifiers, I would probably blame thermal shutdown's as a design defect, should have used a better heatsink.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

impulse said:


> My amp has thermo dynamic fans and is Class D. I suppose on a really hot day, inside the trunk and playing at high volume, something like this does make a difference.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Look at combined surface of these fins, I bet this thing is impossible to overheat, what amp is that?
You brought excellent point, liquid cooling main advantage is that how quiet it is- not really needed feature for loud environment.


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## impulse (Jul 5, 2014)

Victor_inox said:


> Look at combined surface of these fins, I bet this thing is impossible to overheat, what amp is that?
> You brought excellent point, liquid cooling main advantage is that how quiet it is- not really needed feature for loud environment.


MTX Elite 1501d. Probably the best amps MTX will ever make. They have recently been replaced by the X series which doesn't have half the features this line did. Which is why I got it cause it has everything, from the variable color lighting to the oversized caps. Car Audio Amplifiers - Thunder Elite 1501D | MTX Audio


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## mercury02 (Jul 20, 2014)

Ok lets look at it in some amps you want to be hot this gives it sound like tube amps when they heat up and start to distort a little bit that is how you get that warm sound.
I know Sinfoni they expect there amps to heat up to give it its warm sound and I used to rep Monolithic class A same thing they get hot but not so hot to shut off unless you had no airflow on them. In DB Drag you want your amps cool and VC cool that is why you see guys with portable AC cooling off cars. Heat is good for some and bad for others but when the heat is caused from low voltage drops in 10.4 to 11 well that's bad and you need to upgrade batteries and alternators that's whne you blow amps up!!!!


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

heat is #1 enemy in electronics, you reference to tube amps is incorrect even tube amps works best in cool environment. anything over 85 C is too hot and should not be engineered like that.
Overheated solid state is NOT sounding like tube amp, period.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

Bazooka also had water cooled amps.

For it's day and purpose it was really a neat idea- to get points for car audio competitions.


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## cajunner (Apr 13, 2007)

gregerst22 said:


> I think a submerged liquid cooled amp would be cool for a show car but is completely impractical and overkill in the real world. However, a closed loop liquid cooling system with large copper water blocks that mounted to the amplifier would be feasible and could be interchangeable with different amps. I've built a few water cooled computer systems for myself and friends and they're extremely effective. These overclocked system are running slightly above ambient room temperature most of the time and when pushed hard during gaming, video encoding etc they stay withing 10C of room temp.



I don't see why a generic water-cooling system for a computer couldn't be added to a car audio amplifier, simply by attaching the copper/aluminum block to the area where the output transistors are, and getting a good physical contact area there to the aluminum.

You extend the cooling lines, maybe enlarge the reservoir of coolant fluid, so you could mount the radiator inside of the car cabin, which on longer drives remains 15-20 degrees cooler than trunk temps.

this could be enough for some amps to stay out of thermal, without taking up very much space.

also, you could mount the radiator under the car, without fans and let the air flow over/through it, like a heat exchanger on a boat.

that might be pretty trick, since you wouldn't need electrical anything under the car.


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## cajunner (Apr 13, 2007)

gregerst22 said:


> True it could totally work. The two main factors in liquid cooling are the radiator size and air flow. If I were going to attempt this I would mount a large liquid cooling radiator in front of the vehicles engine radiator and utilize the existing radiator fan and air flow. When parked there could be a switch that manually or even automatically turns the fan on when needed. Running 3/8" tubing from the radiator to the trunk wouldn't be too much of an issue. I think the most difficult part would be properly mounting the water blocks to the amps.



that's probably the easier part, to me.

attaching a thick piece of aluminum, to another thick piece of aluminum with perforations for water coolant flow, should be as simple as thermal adhesive?

the use of a small pump to move liquid is the hard part, and I wouldn't send juice all the way to the engine compartment.

If the radiator is large, say about the size of a transmission cooler used to make up a tow package, you could place it right under the floor of the trunk.

Then it would have enough radiation for cooling at standstill, based on a larger liquid reservoir.

and at speed, would be even better just with passive airflow under the car's carriage.


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## cajunner (Apr 13, 2007)

gregerst22 said:


> I was thinking more along the lines of attaching the water blocks directly to the part(s) that are producing the heat. Like in a computer the heat sink/fan are removed and the water block is mounted directly to the processor or GPU with high quality heat sink compound like Arctic Silver. Some people go so far as lapping the copper water blocks with super fine grit sand paper to get the most contact area as possible.
> The issue I see with mounting under the trunk is heat from the exhaust and pavement plus chance of debris like rocks hitting it. Even with a large radiator and reservoir if sitting still for more than a few minutes it wouldn't take long to heat up. A high quality pump will move 2 - 4 gallons of fluid per minute. That water needs to be cooled quickly so fans would be needed.


as an adjunct, it would work well since most of the amp's dissipation would be normal radiation via the aluminum heat sink.

the attaching of a cooling block over less than 1/3 the flat surface of the amp, leaves plenty of area for the amp to dissipate heat normally.

the amount of heat it would take, to simply heat up a gallon of water, along with the tubes, the radiation cooler itself, and the block would be a lot, and with just a small amount of water coolant moving through the apparatus, it would likely be able to keep a normally non-thermal amp out of protection for as long as needed.

get the car moving and even a slight draft through the fins will lower temperatures, and I wouldn't put it next to the muffler, lol...


I mean this as a solution for anyone who has no other option, and must drive their systems, design their systems, for conditions that normally overload an amp with heat.

say, a hidden installation under carpet, or an amp rated for 2 ohm operation, having to push through 2 sets of passives that dip down to 1 ohm at the same frequencies, making an area of the frequency response .5 ohm in parallel..

these kinds of installs could probably use an additional cooling method.

I'm not saying there is not better ways to do that, but it's a solution...


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## TrickyRicky (Apr 5, 2009)

Just place an ice pack with thin towel over them and call it a day, lol. Of course this will only be good for an hour or so then you'll have to replace ice pack and towel. ORrrr just get fans.....squirrel fans work the best.


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## rton20s (Feb 14, 2011)

TrickyRicky said:


> ...squirrel fans work the best.


Indeed...


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## Darth SQ (Sep 17, 2010)

This all sounds like a lot of e.f.f.o.r.t...uggh........


Bret
PPI-ART COLLECTOR


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## djbreal87 (Jun 24, 2012)

But effort is what makes it fun  Doing something different, out of the box, against the grain, odd, these make it exciting lol


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## REGULARCAB (Sep 26, 2013)

rton20s said:


> Indeed...


You either spent time looking for that pic, or already had it. Either one is kinda sad bro :laugh:


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

djbreal87 said:


> But effort is what makes it fun  Doing something different, out of the box, against the grain, odd, these make it exciting lol


Do it.


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## Darth SQ (Sep 17, 2010)

djbreal87 said:


> But effort is what makes it fun  Doing something different, out of the box, against the grain, odd, these make it exciting lol


Roflmao....have you seen my build thread? 
Perhaps I should rephrase.
That's a lot of effort for what you would get in return. 


Bret
PPI-ART COLLECTOR


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## djbreal87 (Jun 24, 2012)

I have not seen your build thread, but now im interested I might have to look it up, and maybe I will do it. Im deployed right now, but my handy dandy box builder of a friend is working on new design for my 6 8's that I got (currently have 4) Im going to run the idea past him, money isnt an issue lol and if we do it, you can be damn sure I will post a thread about it


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## HondAudio (Oct 19, 2006)

I saw an Acura Legend that was under construction back in like 1998 - it had a full Dynaudio system and Linear Power amps, and they had built a second AC system for the trunk :O

Wasn't there a guy in USAC back in the 90s with a liquid-cooled sub magnet?


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