How do you know when a light is set for sensors?

Our Community › Forums › General Discussion › How do you know when a light is set for sensors?

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)
1 2
  • Author
    Posts
  • August 12, 2013 at 7:21 pm #977967
    KLizotte
    Participant

    My experience has been that the Crystal Drive sensors are only activated by cars if they don’t run on a rotating light schedule. I routinely stop on S Hayes Street (at Crystal Drive) and the sensors are only activated by cars; most of the time this isn’t an issue because a car is usually behind or in front of me.

    FYI: It is generally better to take South Hayes Street than 15th Street. Less traffic, wider bike lanes.

    August 12, 2013 at 7:27 pm #977968
    DismalScientist
    Participant

    Perhaps you would have more luck triggering the sensor with a (real) steel bike than your fancy aluminum or (worse) crabon bike.:rolleyes:

    I doubt anyone would criticize you for running a non-bike sensing light after stopping and checking for traffic and police cars.

    August 12, 2013 at 7:29 pm #977969
    Tim Kelley
    Participant

    http://dcist.com/2011/07/go_forth_red_light-running_cyclists.php

    August 12, 2013 at 7:46 pm #977973
    lordofthemark
    Participant

    @KLizotte 60615 wrote:

    My experience has been that the Crystal Drive sensors are only activated by cars if they don’t run on a rotating light schedule. I routinely stop on S Hayes Street (at Crystal Drive) and the sensors are only activated by cars; most of the time this isn’t an issue because a car is usually behind or in front of me.

    FYI: It is generally better to take South Hayes Street than 15th Street. Less traffic, wider bike lanes.

    after going from 15th up Eads, and then over on 12th to Fern (for Frozen yogurt :) ) I rode up Joyce to Army Navy and over to Hayes and then down Hayes to 18th into CC – and then back across through the SFH neighborhood, and up Joyce again to Army Navy, and then down Army Navy to Shirlington. I wanted to explore the CC/Pentagon City bike infrastructure generally – cause its interesting, cause its near my commute, cause we MAY move the area one day, and cause it made a nice kind of loopy ride for me (3A to rosslyn MVT to Crystal, Army Navy to Shirlington, and then back up the WOD to the bus on ColPike)

    Hayes looks like it will be pretty nice when they are done with it.

    August 12, 2013 at 7:48 pm #977974
    lordofthemark
    Participant

    thanks Tim – I recall hearing about that, but now that its more practical concern to me, I will remember it better.

    August 12, 2013 at 7:55 pm #977975
    KLizotte
    Participant

    You should check out the Aurora neighborhood then (next to Pentagon City). It’s a neighborhood of middle class single family dwellings (mostly); quiet and bike friendly.

    August 12, 2013 at 8:20 pm #977978
    lordofthemark
    Participant

    @KLizotte 60623 wrote:

    You should check out the Aurora neighborhood then (next to Pentagon City). It’s a neighborhood of middle class single family dwellings (mostly); quiet and bike friendly.

    We are more interested in condos – less maintenance, no lawn work. We will only move to another house if we fail at decluttering. And while Aurora is super cute, it looks like everything on the market there lists for 700k and up, which is somewhat high for us.

    August 12, 2013 at 8:24 pm #977979
    KLizotte
    Participant

    @lordofthemark 60625 wrote:

    And while Aurora is super cute, it looks like everything on the market there lists for 700k and up, which is somewhat high for us.

    Sadly $700K counts as middle class in Arlington.

    August 12, 2013 at 8:26 pm #977981
    mello yello
    Participant

    no shortage of condos there! Although they aren’t quite the deals they were three years ago. There are a number of older, smaller, quieter condo buildings in the area, up on Arlington Ridge and surrounding Pentagon City… once you start bordering Pentagon Row it’s a little busy for my tastes. Lots of parks in the area though!

    August 12, 2013 at 8:35 pm #977983
    lordofthemark
    Participant

    @KLizotte 60626 wrote:

    Sadly $700K counts as middle class in Arlington.

    This is a metro area of 6 million people more or less, and an economically strong one. I can accept that nice SFHs in a place thats what, 2 miles from the center of the region and in a good school district to boot, are going to be pricey. I’m just going to look for something different.

    August 13, 2013 at 1:37 pm #978012
    off2ride
    Participant

    Look for those little cutouts (made by a concrete saw) on the road surface just before a traffic light. Usually ferrous metal triggers that.

    @lordofthemark 60613 wrote:

    So I took an exploration ride yesterday around Crystal City (among other places)

    I was in the bike lane north on Crystal Drive, wanted to go left on 15th.

    The bike lane places you to make a box turn (if you must turn) but the traffic was light, there were left turn only lanes, and I am growing in confidence, so I decided to try a vehicular left. Got into the rightmost of the two left turn lanes, fully taking the lane and waited.

    and waited. and waited. several minutes.

    Finally I (carefully) scooted back to the bike lane, and made a box turn.

    As I was waiting for the light to change to cross Crystal Drive, another cyclist (more elite by his clothes and bike) went to the same place I had been. To make the same turn. and after about 10 seconds, he made his turn.

    From where I was could not see if the light had actually turned, or if he had determined it was not going to, and blew through it (safely I might add).

    I’m wondering if this, and some other lights around that area, are controlled by sensers that sense cars, but not bikes.

    August 13, 2013 at 2:07 pm #978023
    KLizotte
    Participant

    @off2ride 60662 wrote:

    Look for those little cutouts (made by a concrete saw) on the road surface just before a traffic light. Usually ferrous metal triggers that.

    Anybody know if a steel bike has enough metal to trigger the mechanism in this case? Just curious.

    August 13, 2013 at 2:15 pm #978025
    TwoWheelsDC
    Participant

    @KLizotte 60674 wrote:

    Anybody know if a steel bike has enough metal to trigger the mechanism in this case? Just curious.

    Nope…at least not like 99% of the time. Even motorcycles typically won’t trigger them, so companies sell these magnetic coils to attach to motorcyles to increase their inductence so the sensors pick them up.

    August 13, 2013 at 2:55 pm #978033
    off2ride
    Participant

    Not designed for bicycles though.

    @KLizotte 60674 wrote:

    Anybody know if a steel bike has enough metal to trigger the mechanism in this case? Just curious.

    August 13, 2013 at 3:11 pm #978035
    mstone
    Participant

    @KLizotte 60674 wrote:

    Anybody know if a steel bike has enough metal to trigger the mechanism in this case? Just curious.

    Mine usually doesn’t. The sensitivity is a tunable, so it might sometimes. (I’d generally only notice if the light didn’t change…) Usually they have the sensitivity turned down to reduce false positives (and because they don’t care about anyone not in a car).

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)
1 2
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.