I have an automatic rearview mirror in my car-one of the best options ever! The mirror darkens at night, so you don’t get your eyes fried by those super-bright headlamps. How do these things work?Are they like liquid-crystal displays? They are pretty expensive-mine cost almost $200.00 (aftermarket).
I wish I had self darkening side mirrors as well!
Where did you get the aftermarket mirror that does this?
I’ve driven a few Lincoln Towncar rentals that had this feature and I loved it. I’m constantly flipping my mirror up at night. I’d like to put one in my '75 Chrysler Cordoba. It should nicely compliment the fine Corinthian Leather.
Cecil on night-time mirrors. Mentions an automatic system near the end, but it’s an older column, maybe there’s some newer gee-whiz system.
A friend of mine had a car with an automatic mechanical mirror - when it got dark, the motorized mirror would rotate slightly with an expensive little “whirrr” sound.
Such mirrors are produced in Ireland (for Europe only I guess) by Donnelly Mirrors
Given that the prices at Donnelly Mirrors are listed in U.S. dollars I think it is safe to assume they do ship to U.S.A…
To be clearer, their online shipping is exclusively for the continental US. Presumably you’d have to call them to ship elsewhere.
There are two common ways to do this. One less costly, one hi-tech and sexy. Guess which one is snazzed up and crammed into your Lexus as an expensive option?
Cheap and easy way: The car’s rear view mirror is not ground flat. If you took it out and looked edge on from the side, you’d see it has a taper towards the bottom. Bright mode is the surface reflected off the top surface. Tilt the mirror mechanically by a few degrees, and the darker back of the glass image is seen. Sometimes you can still see ghosting from the top of the car of the front-glass image.
Elegant and sexy way: An electrochromic glass layer is sandwiched in with the mirror. Picture self darkening sunglasses where a small current, and not the sun, causes the darkening effect. The electrochomic glass uses ionic transport to move ions from a ‘storage’ layer into an adjacent transparent conducting oxide layer, which in turn becomes more opaque.
Well the elegant and sexy way is in Lincoln’s by default – no expensive option. And it works waaaay better than the less costly. Of course that analysis is subjective and YMMV and yadayadayada.
Gentex makes those mirrors in Zeeland, Michigan. Click the link to learn how they work.