Green light sensor for motorcycle. Light won't turn?

Question

Question about these green light sensors. Are they legal? I also have heard that there's no need to spend a bunch of money on these green light triggers, you can actually just go to the hardware store and buy a regular magnet, if this is true waht kind of magnet should I buy? Finally, does the sensor actually change lights for you like a it does for a police car or is it just somethign that makes the light recognize your there and change at the appropriate time when it would change if you were a car?

Answer 1

They are legal and I guess they work ok.  The thing us cops have is called an Opticom.  They are totally different and are only for Police & Fire.

Answer 2

The sensors are under the surface of the street. And what they sense is magnetism.  (And bikes genarally have very little ferous metal near the street.)  So, you buy and attach "rare earth" magnets to the underside of the motorcycle.  

Does it work, yes, until it falls off because the tape loses it's sticktoitiveness.  There are more $25 magnets scattered across the roads of america, than you could shake stick at (though why you would want to shake a stick at them is not very clear.)

I have heard suggestions that you just need to drop your kickstand and pass very precisely over the sensors, but with my kickstand down, I am looking for other things than an invisible sensor under the road. That has to be the most asinine suggestion I have ever heard.

Why? because most motorcycles today have something called a starter interlock and a kickstand interlock, so that when your kickstand goes down, your motor quits. And you can't restart it with the kickstand down until you find neutral.  (A difficult problem on some, but it always seems to find first or second when you are desperately seeking neutral.)

Answer 3

They don't work that well. I have had buddies that have had them installed on their bikes and I think they are still sitting at the red light.

Answer 4

it trips sensors so your motorcycle "looks" like a car to the system...

they work okay, but you need a fairly powerful magnet, neodymium is the best type

police/ambulance units are a more sophisticated device, but there have been a few on ebay