Triumphrat

hypervista

This may be a newbie question, but I'm wondering about a problem I've encountered recently in triggering traffic lights. During my early morning commute I've noticed that some of the traffic lights at certain intersections remain red until a car approaches and the weight of the car causes the traffic signal to change from red to green almost immediately. However, my bike and I never seem to be able to trigger the light change so I either wait for a car to pull up behind me to change the light, or more often I simply run the light. That's not so bad early in the morning, but I noticed this afternoon at a busy intersection that I couldn't trigger the left turn traffic light. I resigned myself to thinking that this is just the way it is, until I noticed in a JC Whitney catalog the other day a device that claims to trigger traffic lights. I'm wondering if anyone here has such a device and if it really works, or if you have any other suggestions.

Here's the device in question:
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...ght+trigger%5D

Joemomma

I hear they don't work, but either way you can get a neodymium magnet from Parts Express for like $1...that's all the green light trigger is.

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hypervista

Thanks for the tip joemomma. I'll look into the magnet and let you know how it works!

Cburt

Missouri passed a law that if the light doesn't change within a reasonable time you can run it. I think most people were running them anyway, so they just made it legal.

MassiveAttack

This is correxct. It's not a car's weight that triggers the light - it's the magnetic field. Am not versed in the science behind it but I understand that it has nothing to do with your bike not weighing enough.

Often times a few blips of the high beams will trip some lights.

At any rate, find a place to strap a magnet and you'll notice that the lights will change. I had to do this because I work nights and tend to arrive home when there are no other vehicles on the road...and I kept getting pulled over by cops who were looking for any excuse to nab a drunk. Never ticketed, but pulled over just the same.