lights wont change

stooster · Scooby Slapper Joined: 13 Mar 2006 Karma :

a set of lights that i apss wont change when i approach on the bike......they will on my lammy so i take it theres not enough metal on my bike to get the lights to change...

i work nights and only have this problem when finishing work on a sunday morning when theres no cars about.....

its a t junction and the lights favour the main road....im approaching the smaller road....they wont change....

been like this as long as ive known which is about a year.....

i either have to go through on red carefully, go down a 1 way street the wrong way round to get home....or wait for a car to come behind me.......never got past about 3 mins before ive gave up....

what do i do....is this normal........if i get pulled im gonna tell em the story and im sure if lights are faulty i can proceed with care...

opinions please...

spike_Alike · Spanner Monkey Joined: 27 Jan 2007 Karma :

Same thing happened to me the first day I got my NSR. I just waited, and waited, and waited as the rest of the traffic was let past once, twice, three times all ignoring me. In the end after about 10 mins I saw a safe passage and skipped the lights.

I was planning to do the same thing if a copper saw me, tell him the lights were faulty and I wasnt gonna sit there all day. He cant exactly do me for it, its either sit there all day, turn around the wrong way back up a one-way street or skip the lights.

stooster · Scooby Slapper Joined: 13 Mar 2006 Karma :

i know you can complain to local council...but cant see em ripping floor up to sort them out for 1 bike......unless its a lot easier than that...

suppose i should complain ..at least if i get caught i can say i complained about them

spike_Alike · Spanner Monkey Joined: 27 Jan 2007 Karma :

To be honest your not that likely to get caught, and you got an excuse if you do.

I'd be more worried about pulling out into oncoming traffic that is assuming your staying put. Could get dangerous Shocked

stooster · Scooby Slapper Joined: 13 Mar 2006 Karma :

no danger involved...i an take a 1 way route or go slowly.......at 5 am on a sunday theres no cars....

just sent off a complaint to local council to cover me though...

been skipping the lights for about a year now anyway but just remembered about it and though id post incase its common

Jull · Spanner Monkey Joined: 12 Mar 2007 Karma :

Lights by me are the same, me and hubby pull up side by side to mimic a car but still doesn't work.

Surely they must have sensors that recognize bikes on the traffic lights with the cameras that do you for going over on red, otherwise what do you do - wait for a car to pull up behind you? Confused

veeeffarr · Super Spammer Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Karma :

They have an induction loop that detects ferrous metal, of which bikes possess none/very little. stick a speaker magnet in the sole of your boot.

steveh · World Chat Champion Joined: 24 Aug 2004 Karma :

A police officer will probably say you could of got off, pushed it onto the cerb and walked round it.

there is NO excuse for running a red, but it depends how mean the copper feels.
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alone · Traffic Copper Joined: 13 Sep 2006 Karma :

There's a set like this at the cross-roads near me. I just skip them after a minute or two.
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Finglonga · World Chat Champion Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Karma :

map · Mr Calendar Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Karma :

veeeffarr · Super Spammer Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Karma :

Jamie S · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Karma :

traffic lights have 2 sensors ,this is of course if there not timed lights with set intivals.
The first one is a camera on the top of the lights, it looks straight down at the center of the road roughly one cars length away from the white that you should stop on ,and the seccond belive it or not is the road,
One the road there will be a set of dieaginal lines( there black and look like shiny tarmac) they are pressure sensitive and if you park on them then the lights will know there is something there , but if the camera cant see you it wont change as quick but will still change eventually, so park on the black lines and try to stay in the center of the road. and you should be fine.

Finglonga · World Chat Champion Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Karma :

Kal · World Chat Champion Joined: 02 Jan 2007 Karma :

I'm curious about this as well as there are some junctions which you just cannot get a bike through in Leicester after midnight.

Now I know where they are I avoid them like the plague but I always worry I'm going to get caught by another set.

Anyway my constructive bit. Some of the lights do have these cameras/sensors on top of them and if you can get the bike into the middle of their field of view (not always the same road position) then even 'difficult' lights will trip often before you have actually gotten to them.
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Kal...
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stooster · Scooby Slapper Joined: 13 Mar 2006 Karma :

Ste · Not Work Safe Joined: 01 Sep 2002 Karma :

I pity you poor people on bikes trying to make traffic lights notice that you're there; couple of weeks ago me and a mate spent ages trying to get the lights to notice us, each driving a couple of tons of 4x4 but the lights were having none of it and just stayed on red, what chance do bikes have? Razz

Some lights are just set to 'paranoia conspiracy' settings where no matter how quickly you approach and heavily you brake the sensors will just ignore you.

ncrn · World Chat Champion Joined: 24 May 2006 Karma :

I've got some lights near me that are like that, I just have to go for very heavy breaking down from 30 just before them to get them to change.
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BFG · Brolly Dolly Joined: 14 Feb 2005 Karma :

It can help to know that the inductive coil doesn't pick up the presence of iron as much as movement of iron.

Summat to play with.
https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/electromag/java/faraday2/
Think of your bike as the magnet

Adding a magnet to the bottom of your bike can help, but you still need to be moving. If you can see where the coil is, try slowing down as you go over it. Walking speed usually doesn't help, I find 10mph works on our local dodgy lights.

map · Mr Calendar Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Karma :

Just done a little google and one piece of advice I hadn't come across before is...

Jamie S · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Karma :

I just thought, puting a magnet under your bike is not a good idea, it will pick up any bits of steel that are in the road , so not the best option there

ISLAND GIRL · World Chat Champion Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Karma :

I had exactly the same problem here at a set of traffic lights comin out of a local supermarket, I sat there for a good five minutes simply watching them all go through their sequence, it was only when a car came up behind me that they changed! I believe its down to a wieght sensor. I complained to our council highways dept and think its sorted now Thumbs Up

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Live on the Isle of Wight and ride a CBR600F

carvell · Scuttler Joined: 05 Sep 2003 Karma :

There are no weight sensors in the road.

Move your bike backwards and forwards over the inductive loop in the road and it should change. If you sit still then it won't see you.
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