Traffic Signal and Gate Sensors - product test

[rjg]

My FZ-07 won't trigger  a traffic light on my daily commute.  There is also an exit gate in my community that triggers only about ~75% of the time (wheels lined up precisely on the short side of the rectangular saw cut for the loop wires ).  These are inductance loop sensors cut in the roadway that activate the detection system for the light / gate.   Major problem for me at 4 am.

I installed this product on my FZ-07 and it's working great after about 1 week of testing: 

ACTIVE Green Light Trigger, Parking Garage Opener for Motorcycle, v3

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Green Light Trigger. Green Light Trigger in Action - YouTube. Installation of Green Light Trigger - YouTube. Green Light Trigger does not preempt traffic signals, or do any fraud. It only makes...

Note that this is not the magnet thing called "green light trigger" but is powered device with an antenna.   I installed it on the underside of my sw-motech belly pan mounted to a piece of plastic.  This is a temporary install since I'm still testing it for best positioning of the antenna.    See the attached pics.   The LED flashes when the device sense the inductance loop. I mounted it at the base of the windscreen with some heavy black tape. (The device comes with the lead wire for the LED but you have to supply your own LED if you want to use it. (Amazon has the 12v LEDs - I bought 55 of them in different colors for $11 shipped).

Test Results so far after 1 week:

The device triggers my community exit gate and that one traffic light that I always get stuck at (56th street exit on the 101).  It also triggers the two exit gates at my workplace that never triggered for me in the past but I was able to bypass by going around them. 

What I learned so far about traffic sensors: Inductance loops are by far the most prevalent.  There are also magetometer loops and magnet devices and also some other types but these are far less used.  As far as I can tell, magnets don't work on any of these.  What does work are conductive metals for inductance loops and ferrous metals for the magnetic sensors.  From all of the info that I see out there what matters most: skin effect or surface area of the metal and distance to the ground.  I.e. that's why some sensors will trip even on my bicycle as long as I ride directly over the saw cuts in the pavement.       

So far this product is solving my problem since I commute really early in the morning and I'm tired of the stress of having to run the red light.

Pics: antenna mount on the skid plate.  12v accessory jack power - did not have to remove the skins to access the accessory plug but I have small fingers.  LED mount on the windscreen LED on and LED off.I mounted the little control box with circuit board under the seat next to the battery/snorkel area.  Sorry, I forgot to take a pic of that when I had the seat off.  I ran 18 AWG automotive wire up to the windscreen to power the blue LED. 

Edited July 28, 2019 by rjg

[rjg]

I used one of these 12v Amazon blue LEDs for the status indicator that I attached to the status lead wire  

[keiver12]

I didn't know these kind of products were around! Normally I don't run into being stranded at a red light too often where I live but I can totally understand the frustration. I also like the status light you added!

[DewMan]

Interesting. Is the induction loop required to stay in the rectangular shape it's in or can it be bent to be more form fitting?

[rjg]

On the product webpage / facebook page there is a photo of someone that mounted the antenna in kind of a triangle shape on the bottom of a 3 piece plastic belly pan (i.e. a faring like the Ermax one for our bikes that is in 3 pieces).  I assume that it would work ok but you can correspond with the product maker on ebay/facebook and he can tell you more info.  He did tell me that the antenna works best mounted low and horizontally.  But it can still work in other positions but not as effectively.  BTW, correspondence with the product maker (Mike) was really good.  He got back to me immediately to my questions.