I know there are a few posts about green light triggers, and I seem to get stuck at the lights around town alot so i'm thinking about making an electromagnet that makes a feild large enough to trip the sensors from your rear seat, anyone done this? I've already put a cow magnet on my bike, and i'm gonna try another one on the underside of my bike but they dont seem to work that well. Is a hard drive magnet stronger than a few cow magnets?

I'm also concidering purchasing these, although, i'm not an electrician, but 84lbs of force is alot more than any standard magnet i've seen...
http://cgi.ebay.com/LOT-of-4-Electro...ayphotohosting

 

You could always make your own electromagnet. Basically all you have to do is get a chunk of iron and wrap a copper wire around it. More turns = stronger magnetic field. Wire the electromagnet to your battery and use the brake switch to turn the electromagnet on and off. Also, you want to make sure there are no wires around where you will be mounting your electromagnet. There is probably an equation for how many turns you need to make a magnet of a certain strenght. You could find a 3rd or 4th year Electrical Engineering student and ask him/her to design such an electromagnet.I'm only a 1st year so I don't really know the equations and such.

 

Keep in mind you don't want too strong of a magnetic field, otherwise it could interfere with the bike's electronics, (and any other personal electronics you might be carrying) it will also increase the draw on your electrical system (and at the worst possible time, when you're idling at a red light) so it can drain your battery/overheat your alternator.
Go even further overboard with the magnet, and you'll start picking up small metalic debris with it (loose screws, pieces of wire etc) that get thrown on the street.

 

also remember that an electromagnet will require a constant power source in order to work as opposed to a standard magnet which always works

 

Well those Ebay electromagnets would make over 160LBS of pull force at 12v, and if i wire it inline with my brake light it wont have any pull unless the brake lever is being pressed. Anyone know how much power the green light trigger magnets produce? I know there is like a T rating on magnets, i bought some cow magents but they just arent working well =X.

 

Now Im not trying to be a jerk here but why cant you wait at the red lights like everybody else?

 

becouse on a bike u could be there for days...no joke or another car comes..

 

The light right near my house doesn't 'see' me unless I stop on the sensor and roll very very slowly. Usually I just figure if I get to the light and a car doesn't trigger the light, I just make the right turn and go the long way.

As far as the electromagnet goes, look into a 'faraday cap' or a fast discharge capacitor to power that thing, it may be easier on the charging/battery. You may be able to research them on a car stereo forum.

edit: 'faraday cap' is the wrong term, sorry.

 

I never seem to have a prob with lights not seeing me. I only ran across that a few times and I just had the car behind me pull up more.

 

Well the problem is after school to get homeI have to get onto a busy intersection/highway and its a T intersection where it could take a while for someone to turn left, most people turn right back into town, and in order to hit another light i would have to ride west for a while before going back east. And there are alot of intersections in my town that dont get much traffic, but just enough to make me wary to run the light in case of police. I can get stuck at a stop light for 5-15 minutes sometimes, durring the dayand its crappy.