Maybe you’ve never heard of auto start-stop technology, but it’s becoming more common in new cars, and some say it could pose a problem intermittently for some car radios.
In Start-stop vehicles the engine actually automatically shuts off briefly while the car is at a red light to conserve on fuel. Then the car automatically restarts itself. The technology is already on extended range electric vehicles in the U.S. and is widely available in Europe and Japan. Its’ also on vehicles such as the 2012 Ford Fusion.
Crux interfacing solutions is offering what may be the first module to help make sure aftermarket radios don’t suffer from a big dip in voltage when the car goes into stop mode, causing a drop in sound quality.
Kenwood says many aftermarket radios will not be affected, but Crux’s Nayyar Rizvi, “There’s definitely an unpleasant drop in the sound quality….and the feature will be added more and more as fuel saving becomes a need.”
Crux’s answer is the STPWR-01 module at a suggested retail price of $199. It has a 4 amp capacity with universal application.
You can watch a YouTube video of the product here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Dui6zTiQ33U
About 8 million U.S. cars will use start-top technology by 2017, according to Lux Research.
Source: Crux Interfacing Solutions
