Three Ways Light Knights Of The Road Beat The Traffic Light Sensors. |
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| By Ian Davis |
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| If you own a motorcycle, scooter, ride a bicycle or even
drive a mini hybrid car you've probably been frustrated by
lengthy waits at traffic lights. Not only is this annoying
it's also unnecessarily adding to your journey time, costing
you extra fuel and can present an additional risk to the
most vulnerable road users. The probable cause for your frustration is the traffic lights controller sensor failing to pick up your smaller vehicle. These 'demand actuated' traffic light sensors are a perfectly sensible way to avoid unnecessary disruption to traffic flow. However that's pretty useless to know if your stuck at the intersection, on your bike waiting for the next truck to pull up to trigger the sensor. The real problem is that most of these are placed at busy intersections to ensure vehicles can turn left or cross the predominant traffic flow. So if your on a bike that's a very important safety issue. So what can you do about it? There are solutions available such as 'the Light Knight' or you could consider your own. However before you chose you first need to understand how most of the 'demand actuated' traffic light sensors work. The vast majority use something called a 'loop detector' or, to give them their full name 'inductive loop traffic sensors'. This is basically a metal detector buried in the road. Ever noticed the circular, square, rectangular, or diamond-shaped saw cuts in the road surface approaching the intersection? Well that's your 'loop detector.' Essentially these consist of a electromagnetic coils that detect the presence of ferrous metal. Unfortunately most motorcycles do not have enough permeable metal in their frames to reliably disrupt the magnetic flux and consequently trigger the traffic light controllers. There are a number of different types of the 'loop detector' but, whether they are dipole, quadrupole or diagonal quadrupole in design they all work on the same fundamental principle. Despite many urban myths, waving your arms about, flashing your lights or repeatedly kicking your kick stand in and out will make no difference whatsoever. However, as previously mentioned, there are a number of solutions such as the 'Light Knight' that can help you overcome this problem. Firstly if you regularly get stuck at the same place and you have the time available you could take some time to identify the exact location of the traffic light sensor. Look for the tell tale 'saw cut' markings in the road near the intersection. Using a process of trial and error, providing of course that it is safe to do so, you could position and then reposition your bike to find the best place to trigger the sensor. However this does have the obvious drawback of being rather time consuming and is reliant upon you finding the exact same spot every time you pull up at the intersection. It also has to be said that your bike may simply not have sufficient ferrous metal mass to trigger the light sensor no matter where you place it. Another option is to construct your own electromagnetic triggering system and attach it to your bike. In order to do so you need to get hold of some neodymium magnets and fix them to the underside of your bike. However extreme caution should be taken if you decide to take this approach. The magnets are extremely strong, very brittle and can shatter easily. It is always advisable to wear eye protection when handling them and never let children or animals come into contact with them (they can be fatal if ingested).They will wipe electro magnetic data from pretty much any media can even disrupt pacemakers so caution is very important. You can not simply stick them to the underside of you motorcycle as they will be eroded by the elements. A good idea is to place each inside a metal case such as a small pill dispenser, fixed within an epoxy resin (again take all recommended precautions when working with such resins and always follow the manufacturers guidelines). You can then attach the encased neodymium magnets to the underside of your bike using a heat hardened resin or similar fixing agent. However, if neither of those solutions sound particularly appealing, you may be relieved to know that you can buy a relatively cheap solution called the Light Knight. This light sensor trigger incorporates a uniquely designed high flux magnet that acts like a small signal generator when it passes over the loop detector. This then induces a voltage spike triggering the 'loop detector' and allowing you to get that all important green light. So whatever solution you choose there is no longer any need for you stay stuck to the whims of the traffic light sensor. |
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| Article Source: http://interpret.zar.vg | ||||
| About The Author About The Author Ian Davis is a motorcyclist, internet marketer and online entrepreneur. You can receive a fantastic free motorcyclists handbook and learn more about motorcycle equipment by going to The Light Knight Review. To learn more about the author please read the blogg. Original source: EZArticles -Ian Davis |
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