# Amp caught fire,why?



## himilefrontier (Jan 21, 2003)

Okay,this question is really bothering me,and I hope someone has an answer for it.A friend of mine has a car with a trunk mount battery(it's a 89 Ford Mustang convertible).The battery gets 14 volts from the alternator.He had a 600 watt Kenwood amp wired with heavy gauge wire(less than 3 feet of it),and a fuse within 3 inches of the battery.After being in for about a month,the AMP burst into flames!The power cable was not burned except for the section an inch from the AMP and the fuse did not blow or show any signs of overheating.The cables were also cold when he had put out the fire.This is the second amp that did this(the first was a Rockford Fosgate).Why did this happen?Is it because he isn't running a cap in the positive lead?This has been bugging me for a while. Thanks for your input!


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## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

maybe he has a trunk leak and water got into the amp causing a short on the board and it caught fire? i dunno, just guessing.


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## 3.5SE Auto (Oct 16, 2002)

*um*

i would TRY to blow the fuse, i.e. shorting it across the battery with another fuse of a higher rating downstream of it as a safety incase the first fuse didn't blow. 


If the original fuse doesn't blow it was bad. 

If it does then you need to see the amp manufacturer for warranty

that is what i would do, fuses are relatively cheap.


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## omega (Jun 27, 2002)

I have so many fuses it's ridiculas, it's pretty silly too, I've seen this happen, rare that it happens to two different kinds of amps, because most of the time it is the amp itself


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## SentraStyleEMW (Aug 15, 2002)

I would keep your car as far away from your friend as possible...and definately don't let him help you install anything.


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## himilefrontier (Jan 21, 2003)

well...his car is more likely to catch fire from one of my creations than my car is from his!


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## SuperSentra4203 (Dec 17, 2002)

Kenwood amps run very hot, if the temperature circuit failed(which they often do with cheaper Kenwoods) the amp will easily overheat and the transistors and capacitors will burn. Boy can they burn I honestly would put a cooling fan on my amp if I had it in a trunk of a newer car. They don't have much ventilation, so the heat can't de dissapated very much. Since Kenwood amps are only a Class A or B, they will produce a lot of heat, ad with RF amps. I would seriously cool the next amp. Fire+Battery nearby=often disaster. Batteries can and often do let of amounts of oxygen and hydrogen, which a hot amp can easily ignite.


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## twisted200ser (Jun 4, 2002)

its a ford and it tried to commit suiside(sp?) so next time let it lol


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