The title says it all.
I always wondered how does pushing that little button on the bottom of the mirror dim the reflected lights at night and yet keeps the same viewing angle.
In: 10
It slightly changes the angle of the mirror so the headlights are reflected up instead of straight at you.
[https://driving.ca/auto-news/news/how-it-works-mirrors](https://driving.ca/auto-news/news/how-it-works-mirrors)
There is electrochromatic gel sandwiched between two pieces of glass in front of the mirror surface (mirror surface is usually made of aluminum or silver) so the mirror goes like this: Mirror metal film -> glass -> electrochromatic gel film -> glass.
The electrochromatic film is basically what the name says, when electricity (in your car’s example DC current) is applied to the gel, it produces color that interferes with how much light gets to the mirror and then again how much light reflects from the mirror reducing the intensity and glare.
Think about it this way. The manually dimming rear view mirror isn’t actually dimming anything sorta. It’s just a mirror with a sort of differently angled window/mirror in front of it. When you move the tab, you move the whole both of them but place the one that offers the dimmer reflection in place of the one that gives the bright reflection.
edit: i should add that the brighter one is still reflecting all bright lights… it’s just pointing them somewhere else since the tab turned the whole structure the same amount of degrees that the two reflective surfaces are angled at.
My related question is why the manual dimming version isn’t available on the driver’s sideview mirrors for jerks behind you with their high-beams on!
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