[ST] More than you want to know about the green light trigger

[peter.chittum@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Sorry about the late reply, but I've been on vacation and since I use the
product in question, I just thought I'd add to the discussion.

As indicated by others, the trigger has to do with the principle of
induction of magnetic fields, and nothing to do with weight. In my
observation there are quite a few lights that used to be troublesome that I
can now trigger. There are still some that defy being triggered, and I'm
just too darn lazy to notify the local traffic authorities to adjust the
sensitivity of the sensors. 

Supposedly, the faster you travel over the sensor, the greater the level of
induction (so they tell me...frankly, I know squat about magnetic fields but
when I read the literature to my engineer girlfriend, she seemed to think it
sounded on the up-and-up). So the faster you travel over the sensor in the
road, the "bigger" the magnetic field. It seems that the farther forward you
mount it the better, as it reaches the sensor earlier and you can be moving
faster. I've mounted my trigger on the cross-piece of my center stand, which
places it in the back third of the bike. At some point I want to place it in
the very front of the belly pan and see if I get better results from it. 

Also not all sensors in the road are shaped the same. Some are circular,
some are rectangular, and some are diamond shaped. The trick is to orient
yourself on location of the sensor, where it can pick up as much of the bike
as possible. That would be right over the left or right of it, not in the
center. Since the rectangular sensors have a section that is in identical
orientation to the bike's path of travel, they tend to be the best at
picking up the bike. The circular sensors seem to be the most difficult to
trigger in all cases where I've tried. 

Finally, for those that want to try it, since the side stand contains a good
amount of ferrous metal, if you're sitting stuck at a light, you might try
shifting into neutral, putting down the sidestand and attempting to place it
directly on the sensor. I was told that this might help, but have never
gotten the technique to work. 

In my opinion, it is worth the $12 I paid, even though I have no scientific
evidence to back up my findings. I can say that I seem to be less vexed by
lights that won't change than I used to be. Still, the trigger is just a
very strong magnet, so you may be able to find a really strong magnet for
less money somewhere else where they don't market to motorcycle riders and
have just as good results.

There you go...more than you ever wanted to know about the green light
trigger. 

Peter

- -----Original Message-----
From: James Goldston [mailto:jgoldston@xxxxxxxx]
Sent: December 28, 2002 3:48 AM
To: ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ST] green light trigger


I have no idea whether the product works.


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