"Green light changer" / traffic light magnet

[NeonspeedRT]

Originally Posted by '73 H1 Triple

What do you fellow enthusiasts think, will it work or did I waste my money?

Jeff

Jeff,
Unfortunatly I think you just wasted your money. I have never heard of one of those working. Here is something I had a traffic engineer for the city of Jax tell me in one of the classes I was teaching.

First things, if your city uses the sensors in the ground, try and position your bike in the top left corner of the sensor. You can usually see the cutout in the ground. Try and get as close to the top left as you can without going past the cutout line. Thats where the sensor is strongest.

Second thing, with your bike running, and in the upper left corner of the sensor, hit your engine start button once or twice. It won't hurt anything at all. The switch will send enough of a signal for the sensor to ditect. I was told this about a year ago. It has worked for me 99.9% of the time since then. I used to have lights that would never turn, no matter what I did. Now I try this method and like I said it has worked for me 99.9% of the time.
Good luck and let me know if it works for you.

[Rider]

A little trick the MSF coaches taught me. If you can see the sensor in the road, put your bike in neutral and touch your side stand on the ground where the sensor is. It should cause the light to sense you and it should change.

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by Rider

A little trick the MSF coaches taught me. If you can see the sensor in the road, put your bike in neutral and touch your side stand on the ground where the sensor is. It should cause the light to sense you and it should change.

That is a great idea!

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by NeonspeedRT

Jeff,
Unfortunatly I think you just wasted your money. I have never heard of one of those working. Here is something I had a traffic engineer for the city of Jax tell me in one of the classes I was teaching.

First things, if your city uses the sensors in the ground, try and position your bike in the top left corner of the sensor. You can usually see the cutout in the ground. Try and get as close to the top left as you can without going past the cutout line. Thats where the sensor is strongest.

Second thing, with your bike running, and in the upper left corner of the sensor, hit your engine start button once or twice. It won't hurt anything at all. The switch will send enough of a signal for the sensor to ditect. I was told this about a year ago. It has worked for me 99.9% of the time since then. I used to have lights that would never turn, no matter what I did. Now I try this method and like I said it has worked for me 99.9% of the time.
Good luck and let me know if it works for you.

Hell,I'm gonna try that tonight,along with a magnet and a strip of metal.

[marko138]

Originally Posted by Rider

A little trick the MSF coaches taught me. If you can see the sensor in the road, put your bike in neutral and touch your side stand on the ground where the sensor is. It should cause the light to sense you and it should change.

I've tried that...doesn't do shit around here.

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by marko138

I've tried that...doesn't do shit around here.

It's worked for me on occasion. It all depends on how deep they buried the wire,the size/shape of the loop,where the sensitivity is set on the sensor unit,etc. In a lot of cases,a bike is just barely out of sensing range and just a small increase will trip the system. Even those goofy small magnets could work in some cases,I guess....probably not tho',sorry bro. Oh I forgot,the age of the loop makes a big difference as they're making them a lot more sensitive because of the way cars are being made these days. I've had to replace them at dealerships because they wouldn't react to new,smaller,less ferrous cars.

[t-homo]

I normally don't have a problem, but the kickstand thing has helped for me in the past.

[No Worries]

Originally Posted by NeonspeedRT

... Second thing, with your bike running, and in the upper left corner of the sensor, hit your engine start button once or twice. It won't hurt anything at all. The switch will send enough of a signal for the sensor to ditect. I was told this about a year ago. It has worked for me 99.9% of the time since then. I used to have lights that would never turn, no matter what I did. Now I try this method and like I said it has worked for me 99.9% of the time.
Good luck and let me know if it works for you.

You can make an even better signal than the starter, because mine is on top of the engine. In grade school, we made an electromagnet by wrapping an insulated wire around a bent nail, and attaching the wires to a battery. It would pick up a bunch of nails. How about making a small electromagnet under your engine? You could hook it up to a relay and switch just for traffic lights.

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by No Worries

You can make an even better signal than the starter, because mine is on top of the engine. In grade school, we made an electromagnet by wrapping an insulated wire around a bent nail, and attaching the wires to a battery. It would pick up a bunch of nails. How about making a small electromagnet under your engine? You could hook it up to a relay and switch just for traffic lights.

Quick patent that idea!!! Seriously....that's a good idea!

[Mr Lefty]

I've heard that before... just hit the starter while your at the light... I've done it a couple times... nothing... but it could be because mine was too far away