Green Lite Trigger

[Bob_Mc]

Several motorcycle sites advertise this product, e.g., Bob's BMW. Does anyone have one on a R1200RT? Does it work? Any installation/mounting problems?

[GelStra]

Here's a link to a site that shed a lot of "light" on the subject for me. web page Subsequent browsing seemed to back up the idea that the "greenlight" gizmo had little added effect, if any. Using the techniques listed has worked pretty well for me.

[Ken H.]

This one comes up every once in awhile. The general consensus seems to be that they are a gimmick.

[Jerry_75_Guy]

This one comes up every once in awhile. The general consensus seems to be that they are a gimmick.

 

I've done some rough experiments with magnets much larger

and stronger than the "Green Light" gizmo.

Ken is right. Keep your $$

 

If you have $$$ and want to weld on your bike a bit, I understand a big piece of Mu metal would work, assuming you want 'armor plate' on the bottom of your bike

[ArbyNav]

If you have $$$ and want to weld on your bike a bit, I understand a big piece of Mu metal would work, assuming you want 'armor plate' on the bottom of your bike

 

Put a big negative on the Mu metal - it goes exactly the opposite way you want to go. The Mu metal will make your bike appear smaller to the loop. I was researching this a while back, and started to try the exotic metal route. I learned that the Mu metal strengthens the loop detector inductance, while the loop detectors is looking for a large body of metal that has generated eddy currents which counter the loop's current flow.

 

If you want more on how the detectors work go to here (and note that magnets don't do anything):

http://www.humantransport.org/bicycledriving/library/signals/detection.htm

 

Mu metal increases a loop/coil inductance, so it should drive it the wrong direction. It also "shields" things from magnetic fields, so it could actually mask metal from the detector.

 

I have to give the YMMV disclaimer. I did go up to buying the metal stock but haven't completed an experiment to check it out as making things worse. Buying the metal is the first part, after cutting and shaping it you'll need to spend about $250 to get a very specific heat treatment to maximize the metal's EMF characteristics. After doing some pencil work, it looked like a pretty good waste of money. Bottom line is that none of these magnetic triggers work as you'd hope for. The light detectors do not detect static magnetic fields. The only thing these triggers can do is add more metal to the bike's mass. The biggest correlator to triggering a loop detector is the amount of conducting metal over the loop, along with how far the metal is from the loop.

[RTRay]

I've tried the Green Light Trigger on my R1100RT, Suzuki GS850GT, and Yamaha Venture, and it DIDN'T WORK on any of them!! There are certain lights that I can not trigger at all on my bike, even though I've put extra large magnets from Menards on the bottom. I have finally just avoided those lights and found quicker ways to get where I'm going.

 

I did email the people at Green Light about their product doing nothing for me and was given a long technical explaination about the way certain lights work, and why the trigger doesn't work with all lights. They offered to send me another one so I could try two at the same time, but I was very frustrated with them so I didn't take them up on it.

 

Terry

[Global_Rider]

I did email the people at Green Light about their product doing nothing for me and was given a long technical explaination about the way certain lights work, and why the trigger doesn't work with all lights. They offered to send me another one so I could try two at the same time, but I was very frustrated with them so I didn't take them up on it.

 

The profit margin on that product must be great.

 

Needless to say, the company's owners are having a good laugh on everybody else's $$$.

 

I saw it advertized in the BMW MOA Owners News just recently. Considering they'll advertize any product without knowing/caring whether it works or not, I'd be more carefull as to what products I'd consider buying that are advertized in that rag. You'd think they'd look after the membership first, but advertizing $$$ seems to be at the top of their interest list.

[Global_Rider]

Does it work?

 

No.

 

Check your local traffic laws/code. If a light does not change for you it is considered defective. A defective light is treated as a "stop"...you make a full stop, wait, and when safe to do so, you proceed.

[Jerry_75_Guy]

That's interesting stuff (to me anyway).

 

I could have sworn someone here looked into Mu metal and

traffic loops, and said that 'theoretically' it was the way

to go (probably just poor reading comprehension on my part ).

 

The Green Light device, however, appears to be confirmed 'quatsch'.

[nrp]

Yeah, that was me that once speculated on using mu metal to increase the magnetic signature of a bike. But in pursuing my concept with the traffic control manufacturing people & finally understanding how these things really work, I found out they didn't work like I thought, and that positioning the bike rims directly over the coils was a key to triggering.

 

I can't find my final posting in the site archives so it must be gone.

 

Short of a major electronic development, there is no way to further increase the sensitivity of the trip systems. Magnets etc don't do anything.

 

Local traffic control people sometimes desensitize the installations after initial setup to prevent adjacent lane traffic from unintentionally tripping them. If you can't trip them, call your local traffic people and complain mightily because there is a federal law someplace that says you should be able to do it with any motorcycle.

[EricJRW]

I did email the people at Green Light... They offered to send me another one so I could try two at the same time, but I was very frustrated with them so I didn't take them up on it.

 

If two doesn't work, maybe four?

 

Maybe just strap an automotive radiator on the underside...

 

Sounded good at first.