SuzukiSavage.com /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Traffic Light triggers /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1111468248 Message started by bobo383 on 03/21/05 at 21:10:48

Title: Traffic Light triggers Post by bobo383 on 03/21/05 at 21:10:48 Irritating traffic light sensors don't recognize my Savage.  Or maybe it's me they object to. Anybody ever try the light trigger magnet thingys (intentional) that go under the bike?

Title: Re: Traffic Light triggers Post by WD on 03/21/05 at 21:20:44 Rapidly going from low to high beam a few times as you approach the light tends to work pretty good where I live. Fools the electric eye on the light, thinks the bike is an emergency vehicle. Some of the magnetic triggers work, sometimes. Depends on how sensitive the in road pick-up loop is, how strong the magnet is. As little as the device is, about the best you can expect. My way works, but if you get caught, the fine is astronomical. -WD

Title: Re: Traffic Light triggers Post by gitarzan on 03/21/05 at 21:22:02 I don't have one myself, but I know some fellers who do.  They like them and say they work. I wonder if they collect road scraps, old screws, nuts, etc.?

Title: Re: Traffic Light triggers Post by bobo383 on 03/21/05 at 21:28:11 That's what I'm skeered of, turning metal trash up on its edge and going into the flat manufacturing business.  I guess I could try hang a speaker magnet on one side of the rear swingarm to at least try it and see if it works.

Title: Re: Traffic Light triggers Post by sluggo on 03/21/05 at 22:35:46 personally, i don't buy into the gadgets or tricks. the sensors are magnetic and if you dont have enough mass to trigger it, some little thingymabob (intentional) won't trigger it either.  hi beam low beam  wishfull thinking. the only thing that works is the device on emergency vehicles that use a high intensity beam on a specific oscillation pattern for that system. get caught big trouble. i just wait a cycle then go on red. when caught i explain it and have been let off most of the time. the one time i got the ticket i went to fight it, the judge let me off. IMHO  buying one of those things is like  "i just washed and waxed my bike, and boy does it run better". wasn't it w.c. fields who said "a fool and his money are soon parted". rebuttals????

Title: Re: Traffic Light triggers Post by Paladin on 03/21/05 at 23:18:05 You can see where the wire is buried in the pavement.  I simply ride right over the wire and seldom fail to trigger the sensor. If that doesn't work maybe you could lay the bike down across the sensor to get the mass closer to the sensor.  :P

Title: Re: Traffic Light triggers Post by sluggo on 03/21/05 at 23:30:35 Paladin wrote: If that doesn't work maybe you could lay the bike down across the sensor to get the mass closer to the sensor.  :P oh yeah i forgot that part of the explanation, thanks p, i appreciate you dilligence

Title: Re: Traffic Light triggers Post by bentwheel on 03/22/05 at 09:57:49 I can't believe no one has given up the best answer to this old problem yet. It is so simple you will wonder why you haven't thought of it before. Lord knows you had the time to think about it when you were sitting through so many non light changes. You don't have to buy anything, the part you need is already attached to your Savage.  Instead of getting pissed until you finally flip out waiting at a traffic light try this next time. Reach around with your left toe and pull out your side stand and touch it down. Click, light change. The only time this doesn't work is if the sensory loop is buried too deep, then there is nothing that will work.

Title: Re: Traffic Light triggers Post by sluggo on 03/22/05 at 10:48:23 bentwheel wrote: I can't believe no one has given up the best answer to this old problem yet. It is so simple you will wonder why you haven't thought of it before. Lord knows you had the time to think about it when you were sitting through so many non light changes. You don't have to buy anything, the part you need is already attached to your Savage.  Instead of getting pissed until you finally flip out waiting at a traffic light try this next time. Reach around with your left toe and pull out your side stand and touch it down. Click, light change. The only time this doesn't work is if the sensory loop is buried too deep, then there is nothing that will work. so then why didn't the light change right away when i put the stand down to get off machine so i can run over and push walk button.  ???  . also the sensor is further back than first in line, so if traffic is clear just go, if theres traffic, it will be just a moment till a cage comes along behind you and triggers it when he passes over it. you see i've ridden for over 30 years now and had lots of time to think this one through.  8) personally i like paladins suggestion best, just lay the machine over. but then again you would have to do it right over the sensor.   three of four car lenghts back.  they place the sensor that far back so when you pass over it the timing box has time to react.   dont believe me, just go out look where the line in pavement is. it's not placed under the first car in line. so the only thing that really works is civil disobiedence. run the darn thing.  :-[

Title: Re: Traffic Light triggers Post by Ed_L. on 03/22/05 at 16:05:04 There's one light near my house that never changes if I'm sitting at it on the bike, haven't seen any wires in the road surface, I've run it a couple times so far. As long as I don't get caught I'll keep running it. Pi sses me off waiting at the light for over five minutes when I'm out on a ride. The simplest solution is to go a different route and miss the light altogether. Too bad it can't be done all the time.

Title: Re: Traffic Light triggers Post by bobo383 on 03/22/05 at 17:33:55 If I lay the bike down over the sensor, the light better change cause I'm coming through no matter what.

Title: Re: Traffic Light triggers Post by sluggo on 03/22/05 at 17:39:56 bobo383 wrote: If I lay the bike down over the sensor, the light better change cause I'm coming through no matter what. roflmFao... that was funny

Title: Re: Traffic Light triggers Post by Honda_fan on 03/22/05 at 18:16:05 This came up on one of the other lists I belong to and a couple members are traffic engineers who design these systems. They said that the magnets are a waste of money and if your bike won't trip the light it is because the guys who installed them were to lazy to set them up right. They did mention that the best place to position the bike is in the middle of the loop and not on the edges as most think. This is to make sure the sensor stays tripped since there are filters for nusiance trips like cagers cutting off the corners. They recommended calling the department or number that is posted on the box on the corner to complain. They need to come out and adjust the sensors. This is for the magnetic type sensors. I hope I got it right since I'm going on memory. Maybe someone on list can shed some more light on this.

Title: Re: Traffic Light triggers Post by Greg_650 on 03/25/05 at 07:10:40 There is another way that seems to work most of the time...and we got the tip during our MSF course. The "sensor" is actually a magnetic field caused by the current flow in the buried wire...when a vehicle's metal and electrical parts interrupt the "normal" state of this magnetic field (changes the current flow) it starts a timer to change the light.  However if it is buried too deeply or the sensitivity adjusted too low, it may not detect the smaller change caused by a bike. The tip that we were given during the MSF course, was to shut-off and re-start the bike.  Using the starter tends to create an electro-magnetic pulse which can be detected by the buried sensor.  Give it a try.  It seems to have worked for us a few times

Title: Re: Traffic Light triggers Post by Susan on 03/28/05 at 13:52:35 That's cool, Greg. I hadn't heard that one.

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