Re: [ST] green light trigger

[Ben Snyder <bensnyder@xxxxxxxxx>]

- --- "John Petrey, Jr." <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> We kicked this around in 2000 or sometime. The
> consensus was they don't 
> work, that you'd be just as well driving around with
> a cement block tied to 
> your ST. IIRC, someone said the block might just be
> more effective since it 
> weighs more than the 'tripper.' I have personally
> not tried the product.


I wasnt able to detect sarcasm in there, so if it was
simply below my sarcasm radar, please excuse me.

Weight has nothing to do with these 'triggered'
lights.  These lights, at least in every US state and
minucipality I've seen them in, have an electrical
loop in the road, usually in the shape of a square,
rectangle or octagon, which measures inducatnce.

More accurately, the measurement is the *change* of
inductance.  When a large piece of metal (like a car)
is placed near this loop the inductance of the circuit
changes.  This change is detected and the light is
'triggered'.  It can even be used to measure whether
or not the car is accelerating to decelerating.

Boiled down...they're metal detectors.  Given that
weight is meaningless to the detector and that cement
blocks arent very metallic, they wont help you much. 
In fact, the extra weight (with extreme density) might
make your bike a little more unweidly, so it might
just hurt in the long run.  ;)

The claim made by the 'green light trigger' folks and
their clones is that modern motorcycles do not contain
enough ferrous material to produce a measurable change
in inductance.  Nobody has been able to confirm nor
deny this for me, but I would suspect it a false claim
and that the change is simply not within the
tolerances to trigger the/a particular
light...especially since the detectors at the airport
can detect the rivets on my jeans.  

Along these lines, I've noticed that some lights in my
area 'notice' my bike, some do not, and others will
'notice' my bike if I place the rear wheel on/near the
'seem' of the loop detector in the road.

I'm nowhere near Austin, but a quick google turned
this up:
http://63.236.215.84/articles/article_trafficlight.htm

I've always wondered if the suburbs/areas in which the
detectors dont detect my bike have something against
motorcycles?

FWIW, I've never used the product, but I thought about
it a while ago.  Researching it lead to the wealth of
useless crap you see above and my decision to not
purchase the product.


- --
Ben Snyder
Columbus, OH
2001 Tornado Red ST


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End of st-digest V2002 #724
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