Head Unit gets Hot!

[MG's VH Wag]

Hi everyone, i have just recently installed a Pioneer head unit into my car with 2x 6" speakers up the front and 2x 6"x9" at the rear. When i play CD's and radio the back of the Head Unit gets very hot. I just have it sitting outside of the slot it goes in just so i have access to the wires before i fully install it. Is there any way i can make it run cooler?

Cheers

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

You need to earth it. I had a head unit do the same until it was fitted in properly and I earthed the back of it with the bracket supplied. They do run hot anyway, but I couldn't touch the cooling fins on the back until it was earthed.

[garfa]

there's probably about 80Watts comming off the rear heatsink, so yes it will get hot.

[MG's VH Wag]

I am pretty sure that i have it earthed. I will try and different place to earth it just to make sure. Thanks for the help.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

I mean the heatsink. You need to bolt the bracket from the heatsink to the body. There should be a threaded hole on the heatsink.

[garfa]

sounds like a good way to get a ground loop going.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

That's the way I did mine and it never got hot after that. I didn't read the manual when I put it in, after it got hot, I thought I'd better have a look. It said to do precisely that.

[MG's VH Wag]

OK maybe i should look at the manual too lol.

[MG's VH Wag]

When you say i need to bolt a bracket from the heatsink to the body do you mean the car body? Is that just to help it cool better?

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Yes. There should be a threaded hole (there was on mine) and one of those brackets with slotted holes in it supplied with the head unit. Bolt it to the back of the head unit and the other end to the part that the original head unit was bolted to. (If it was). There should be a metal part there somewhere at the back of the hole that the head unit sits in that you can bolt it to. I think it earths it better so it doesn't get hot.

[jet_pilot]

just a quick Q what's the long bolt with the rubber stop on the back of the HU for?
i had to take mine off when installing because there wasnt enough clearence at the back

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

To stop the HU from vibrating I would say.

[krazykarlnot]

Mine does this with the kenwood hu, it also makes the cds hot and skip. Is this the same problem?

[StoneX]

just a quick Q what's the long bolt with the rubber stop on the back of the HU for?
i had to take mine off when installing because there wasnt enough clearence at the back

It's to stabilise the head unit. Most peole don't use it but some cars have a hollow section where the rubber stopper can fit and hold the head unit in position.