Do magnets ACTUALLY work?

[scarneck]

cops like to harass and now TASER people for no appearent reason

No reason??? I must of missed it??? Cop does that around here and lawyers will be up his azz so far it wouldnt be funny.....

TASE ME BRO!!

[OldBikerGuy]

cops like to harass and now TASER people for no appearent reason

No reason??? I must of missed it??? Cop does that around here and lawyers will be up his azz so far it wouldnt be funny.....

You read it on the internet so it must be true.

[Wild1Poet2]

We have to run the light here too. How do you know when your at a light with a sensor? Just wait a long time?

[CoolMaker]

We have to run the light here too. How do you know when your at a light with a sensor? Just wait a long time?

If you look at the surface of the road, you will see a rectangular line in the surface. That is the sensor.

[arthureld]

We have to run the light here too. How do you know when your at a light with a sensor? Just wait a long time?

If you look at the surface of the road, you will see a rectangular line in the surface. That is the sensor.

And a big fat hog will almost always trip the switch if you stop right on top of it.

[Wild1Poet2]

I'm guessing it's less of a problem when you're in a pack. I know I've sat alone at a light until I wake up and jump the light.

I've seen the rectangular thing in the road but thought it was some kind of weight sensor.

[CoolMaker]

We have to run the light here too. How do you know when your at a light with a sensor? Just wait a long time?

If you look at the surface of the road, you will see a rectangular line in the surface. That is the sensor.

And a big fat hog will almost always trip the switch if you stop right on top of it.

Actually, the weight ( no scale is buried in the roadway) of the bike has nothing to do with it Roger, it is the metal mass that makes the loop work. Our bikes are made with a lot of aluminum, it takes a certain amount of iron or steel to make the loop sense the presence of a vehicle. Therefore, the magnet fools the loop sensor to believe that a large presence of a vehicle and trips the light .

[arthureld]

Maybe I'm just lucky, but I don't find many I can't trigger. If I have to wait more than a minute or 2, I start looking for an opening and run the light. It's rare that I have to though.
They seem to have the sensors pretty dialed in in the area I live I guess. If I find a light I can't trigger, I'll try a magnet on it.

[genegoss]

Got an Ultra Classic and I always get stuck at these damn auto sensing/auto tripping traffic lights. I understand all about the feild that needs to be disrupted by the vehicle to make the lights go to green. i also know that some states have a "3 cycle" rule on going through the light after 3 cycles. With the way alot of cagers are on the street, and with the way some cops like to harass and now TASER people for no appearent reason, i would like to avoid doing anything that would give some one carring a badge or a cager an excuse to hit me or taser me.
So, my questions are: Does putting strond magnets on the bottom of the bike ACTUALLY help trip the traffic lights? Do any of you brothers or sisters out there have magnets on your scoot.....and of so....do you notice any diffferances with traffic lights?
Thanks to all the reply.

I work in Traffic engineering so this should help.
The standard traffic loop 40 x 60 dipole works on a electro inductance principle.

http://www.wikihow.com/Trigger-Green-Traffic-Lights

Placing a good earth magnet on the frame increases the size of your bike electromagnetic signature.
Just keep it away from your rectifier and on the frame bottom ,been doing this for 20 years and it works well.
No other issues from the magnet being where it is .
Also see the link above as where you stop in the loop helps also.
The wire is about 1 ft from the lane line and being on top of it helps..
On the camera based detection the camera sees a change in the pixel background.
But the most common device is the loop.
Occasionly the detector in the signal cab has gotten weak and has to be adjusted by hand or replaced.
We often don't hear about them for some time when they go bad.
Do not hesitate to call your Traffic Engineering section if you have regular problems at a particular intersection.