Experiences with traffic light trigger?

[Upright]

I'm thinking about trying one of these devices. Here's an eBay auction for one:

Traffic Light Trigger on eBay

I've seen a few different brands, but they all seem to be the same thing. Do these work?

Thanks,
Craig

[John]

What I have found to work occasionally, is to lower the kick stand and roll over the sensor lines in the road surface. It seems that the sensors are magnetic and only detect a ferrous metal, like steel, but not aluminum.

[Pat Kelly]

I have one on my bike and it trips more lights that the bike did without one. Still, it dosen't work on all of them. I occasionally have to run a red because it doesn't change but that's rare anymore.

[D. P. Larmee]

I have attached several strong rare earth magnets to the swingarm and it seems to help with some of the more stuborn traffic lights around town. Come to think of it, I have not gotten stuck at a never ending red since I put them on. This may just be a coincidence.

[soccer4m]

ditto on the magnet triggers

Save your money on the green light triggers. All they are is a common magnet. Go down to the nearest building supply and get a couple of strong small magnets and attach to the low point of your bike. I put mine on a fender flap with goop, and under the frame with a ziptie for insurance to hold it. It works great and under 5.00 for small strong magnets. Any powerful magnet will trigger the street sensor or a large metallic object, ie, car. I teach physics at a public high school and did some research on the triggers when they first came out. Great idea, but way overpriced, the original salesman made a small fortune. Anyway I second the using a couple of strong magnets for the triggers. Just remember to locate them as close the ground as possible, good luck,,,,,,,Mike in san diego

[crunchbird]

If you disassemble a broken VCR player, you can get a really strong magnet for free, plus lots of cool stuff for the Halloween robot.

[jetmechmarty]

I followed this discussion on another forum a while back. That discussion led me to believe the "green light trigger" is a waste of money.

[randy]

I stop directly over either one of the the loop sides that are parallel to my direction. With both tires on the loop. I haven't had one trap me yet.

Randy

[Czekus21]

I agree with Randy. There is enough metal in the XS/XJ 1100's to trigger almost every light with the sensors cut into the road. The newer bikes may have a problem with just about everything made out of aluminum and plastic.

[justyn.smith]

Most of the lights I've been trapped at have pedestrian lights. As soon as I realise I'm not triggering the light I jump off, hit the crossing button and race back to the bike before the lights change.

Hey crunchbird, where will I find that magnet in the VCR player? Is there one in all models?

[thumperjsa]

If a magnet that small like a VCRs' will work, the magnet in old hard drives are really strong. I wonder if that would work. I have some old hard drive magnets sitting around so I go to try it.

[crunchbird]

The screwdriver you're using will find it. Look for the silver spinning hockey puck. The magnet is held in a disk about 7 cm diameter, 3mm thick that contains a ring-shaped magnet. If you put it on the fridge, you have to pry it off with a knife or slide it off an edge. The magnet in a hard drive is probably a close cousin.

[Pat Kelly]

More efficient would be mounting the magnet on a bracket out in front of the front wheel. This will pick-up rogue nails before they cause a flat .

[Bud Manley]

I've often thought about how exactley triggers work. can't be pressure because that would require the road to be flexible and it would destroy itself when semi's run over it. magnetic? probabley not because that would require an on/off state to detect and after a while the metallic breakdust buildup would turn them on all the time.
The only sensible trigger is a ground induction coil. That would allow it to adapt the trigger to changes in temp and resistance lowering properties of break dust build-up.
basically as you drive near it the resistance of the loop will change.
Any coil of metal or a magnet should perform the same duty on the trigger as the only requirment is to change the resistance of the ground coil in order to trigger it.
I'd like to recommend using the magnet out of a 5 1/2 inch floppy drive. I had one stuck to my front door and it damn near took a crowbar to get it off.

[randy]

Our 40Lbs of steel frame is more than enough to trigger the loop. Just roll on to it with the contact patch of both wheels on it. Works for me every time.

Randy