BTW...I think I said this but if not, the 'lines' in the street is the sensor. There is nothing inside or outside the box.

The lines are cut to bury the wire that sense the metal mass of the vehicle , over/on/near the wire is where you want to be.

 

Excellent point. I'm amazed that there are times when my son and I ride together, and even with two bikes, we don't have enough mass to trip the sensors. Even now that we know where the darn things are!

The good news is that now that we know what to look for and where to position the bike, we are having much better luck.

 

Cool and yea, sometimes its a crap shoot regardless.

 

As I approach a red light and there is no other traffic going my direction that can assist in tripping the sensor I look to see if the light has sensors in the pavement or cameras that sense motion and then position myself accordingly. I give it a minute or two to change and when it is obvious that it won't I make sure it is safe to proceed and go through the intersection.

I don't know about other states but here in Missouri you can go through a red light after a reasonable amount of time has passed and the light didn't change. No official ruling on how long "reasonable" is. The law was designed for bicycles and motorcycles but I've seen delivery trucks with tall tires that made the metal of their truck too high off the road surface to trip the sensor just sitting there waiting and waiting.

 

If I sit through two cycles of the light, if I'm even that patient, I just run it. Problem solved.

 

depends where you live i know in IL starting january first 2013 a law will be in affect that if you sit at the light for a "sufficient time" and it wont change you can proceed when it is safe.... im pretty sure its more pertaining to left hand turns when you can only go on green arrow so check your local laws and see what you can find good luck when in doubt check for cops then run that sob

 

ive ran many a'light here lately.. one particular intersection that i go through frequently never changes for me.. im gonna try the magnet trick and see if that works..

 

Hmm, gotta check the law here, however all motorcycle related laws tend to be very round and vaque here not providing a straight answer to almost any Q... The thing isn't an issue for me cause there's only one set of lights that I use with the sensor loops when I go visit my sister, and even there I can turn right instead of left, make a U turn and wait for green to change, for some reason only the left turn lane has the trigger. At first I was thinking maybe I'll put sime magnets inside my lower fairing but then thought all the cameras are sensor-loop triggered too so they can't see bikes :

 

if my **** is sitting there for more than five mins over heating and there is no one around, if its safe i ride through. if its not safe i just cut the engine off and wait or make a right turn and go another way.
around my town, the lights i know are long and wont ever turn for a bike, i dont travel, i choose another route if possible.

 

I heard a while back that these sensors use an EM field to detect the metal. I've never had a problem with these as I stop directly on a cut in the concrete. If the light doesn't seem to be changing give it a few blips of the throttle. Suddenly the light starts to change. I can't remember exactly how it works... something about the revs changing the em field of the bike to get the sensor to pick it up better.