In NC, the law says you gotta wait 3 minutes for a light and then if it's safe, you can run it, whether it's the magnetic sensor or the light sensors or whatever they are, so you have a pretty good defense. Some cops will still pull you, but if you show up in court, it's guaranteed to get dropped. On a side note, I use one of these Red Light Changer - www.debrix.com

I've only had it not work once and I realized after that I wasn't right over the sensor. Once I moved, it triggered maybe 5 secs later.

 

Hmm, that got me thinking if a small but strong enough electro magnet mounted somewhere under the engine and a button somewhere to use it would trigger the sensor...

 

Probably so, but why bother when you can just stick a fairly high-powered magnet to your frame and have it without having to distract yourself long enough to use it? Not knocking the idea, or trying to flame, just my $.02

 

heh, I just tend to think of alternate solutions... Not necessarily better ones but still... I like to tinker with gadgets... Propably not worth the trouble in this case if you can just stick a magnet in there and be done with it, was just thinking it might work...

 

I suppose that if you could make the magnet stronger than one of the previously mentioned ones and have it come on automatically when you hit the brakes, it could be useful in that you may not necessarily have to be directly over the sensor. In that way it could be an interesting proposition. If you decide to try it, let me know how it works out, it could be something I'd wanna try too. I'm not sure if 12VDC would be enough to create a strong enough magnet, but a step up transformer and possibly a capacitor could make it work well.

Edit: One the same lines, though, would having the magnet operate too strongly affect the operation of the bike? This is going to be mounted under the engine, after all.

 

The voltage is somewhat irrelevant, it`s the amps that count. However getting the magnet more powerful than a good size neo-magnet could prove tricky, some sort of a capacitor type circuit giving a strong pulse to the coil might work if it would be enough to convince the light sensor to switch the lights...

I have no need for such contraption cause I don`t have that kind of lights where I drive, but if someone else would give it a shot I`d be willing to read about the results too.

Good thinking on the brake light switch, that way you wouldn`t have to "use" it separately.

 

Usually at a stop light or garage i'll give the front brakes a good squeeze causing the front end to drop down and give some weight the magnet wires and what not. I use the kickstand down alot if i get stuck. But if more than 2 light cycles you can bet i'm going through them.

This also works great at parking garages. I had a guy laugh at me as i was rolling up, he thought i couldn't trip the sensor.

 

I just run it after a reasonable amount of time and when it's safe.

 

Wisconsin rules state you have to wait 45 seconds and if it does not turn you can run it. 3 minutes would suck 45sec isn't bad

 

I have actually found that turning off the engine and turning it back on works good sometimes because of the surge of electromagnetic activity. Also flipping the high beams on and off a couple times can work due to the fact that some lights are programmed to react to emergency vehicle lights. To be honest though I usually just run the light anyway when its safe. Had cops see me do it and never been pulled over cause they know the bike wont trip the light.