Induction loops

[Yager200i]

Background:
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My old scooter barely triggered the induction loops at the entrance gates to the parking garage at work, so my parking badge wouldn't work. They gave up trying to make it work, and told me to punch the button at the entrance gate to get a paper ticket, then get it validated in the parking office each day.

This worked fine for years. My new Kymco Yager GT 200i scooter worked similarly. No problem, as I park one floor beneath the parking office, so it's a short detour to get the paper ticket validated.
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So, I'm pulling into the gate Friday before last, I punch the button and get the paper ticket, the gate opens, I goose the throttle to get rolling, and the gate comes down. I see at the last second that it's coming down, so I duck, and it hits square on my helmet and left mirror. My left mirror moved out of the way without damage, and my helmet took the brunt of the blow. Rather than retracting, it kept pushing, bouncing off my helmet and hitting me in the back twice, hard.

These are heavy gate arms, about 80 pounds.

I went to get my paper ticket validated, and told the parking office people about it. They assured me they'd get it fixed by Monday.

So, I spent all weekend with dizziness and a major headache.

Since there are only a couple gates that work with my scooter (the others don't even open, their induction loops are too weak to sense the bike), on Monday, I went through the same gate. It happened again!! But this time, I was quick enough on the throttle to get through so that the swing arm hit me on the back, not the head.

Now I'm spitting mad. I go to the shop, get a hacksaw, and go to the parking office.

Holding up the hacksaw, I declare to the parking office people, "This is for the next time that f***ing entrance gate hits me! It's done it twice now, and you said it'd be fixed by today."

They gave me blank stares, like they'd never even heard there was a problem.

So, now I'm down to one entrance gate that works with my scooter. Come to find out, they're replacing all the electronics with new stuff, that's less sensitive but cheaper than what they've got now. So eventually, none of the gates will work for me. And they increased the speed that the gates swing down, to try to get more cars through in the same amount of time, which is why it hit me so hard.

So, does anyone have any recommendations for an induction loop sensor magnet that I can mount on the bottom of the bike to get the gates to work again?

[Agent Bob]

Googling induction loops will tell you how they work. They are induction sensors and indicate a change in inductance when a ferrite (iron) object changes the induction. With a car it's no problem, but a scoot has little iron. You could try two things in my estimation: One is to add some iron (something that attracts a magnet). I'd tape something to the floorboard temporarily to experiment till I found what worked and find a better home for it later. Just a steel serving tray might do it or a plate from barbells. The second thing is to try to find the sweet spot by the gate where it might work. A car covers a large area and a scooter doesn't. Look for where the loops are in the pavement. Or you could just buy a Harley and they will open two blocks away. LOL

[CROSSBOLT]

Get a real strong magnet and put it on the center stand crossbar. This will work for traffic signals as well. Check the Modern Buddy forum under "traffic signals" for some more input on scoots not triggering. Or glue a strong magnet on your boot or shoe forward of the heel.

Karl