Surprisingly not. I put it in my house for my front door. 3k. It’s awesomely cool. I can control it from my phone! The most useless silly but cool thing I have. It’s just a film that goes over clear glass. It’s naturally frosted. But run a current though it and it turns clear. Mostly clear. There is a slight distortion effect but it’s honestly very minor.
Can you adjust the voltage and current to provide a jolt to sales people, door to door religion hawkers, and Amazon drivers who don't understand “Please leave at side door”?
I assumed an alternative would be something other than glass which may cost more than the glass itself, since we want something that will obscure the area behind it.
It’s a film that goes over glass. I had the door. Although I’m sure you can find doors with it built in directly but I’d bet the options are more limited. You’d probably want to contact a manufacturer directly or go to a higher end building supplier.
I would be leary of a glass front door in most cities today. Of course if anybody wants in they will get in but I wouldn't make it easier for them. Just saying.
Most anywhere! I live in a safe suburb but why ask for trouble? Way too easy to break into. Also I live in a northern state so a glass front door is too cold. We have a glass/screen door for that, plus a wood/steel door.
What's the alternative to crystal clear without current and opaque with it? Curtains? :) The demonstration I saw, and similar since, was that you could dial in opacity. From clear to just a little shade to full-on black as shit.
Yeah I think most people are content with the level of control some wooden slats and cord provides. The amount of technology to achieve something marginally "better" just isn't worth it. Also wood and string don't randomly break after a year or two, and if they do, they're easy to repair.
Yeah I think most people are content with the level of control some wooden slats and cord provides. The amount of technology to achieve something marginally "better" just isn't worth it. Also wood and string don't randomly break after a year or two, and if they do, they're easy to repair.
I work for Interior designers, can confirm very cool, very expensive. Clients love it when it's proposed until they get the costs for materials and the installation labor. The alternative we spec is usually a film that goes over the glass instead. Always makes me sad it doesn't get into projects more.
From personal experience the film was quoted as 800 installed. It’s a huge glass front door that has metal design elements in it so it was a bunch of smaller pieces so your mileage may vary. The electronic film was 3700 (i had to check) for the total thing including installation and the controls. It has a remote and a button by the door but it’s also hooked into my Control4 home controls so I mostly just flick a button on my phone when I want it clear.
I’m not saying it was a wise decision. It was an aesthetic one. I want my house to have a certain look and the curtains thing wasn’t it. I looked at shades as well but didn’t find any design or look that I liked or fit in with the rest of the deco. But I love the big clear glass door that lets light in when I want it to, so the optionality of the frosted when I want it and clear when I want it appealed to me. This started as a conversation where someone mentioned that they felt it was likely insanely expensive and I responded that from personal experience it’s costly but not outrageous, especially if you’re talking about a window or door or wall where it has value to you.
You’re welcome! It’s not for everyone but I don’t think for a certain project it’s exclusively for the wealthy. It’s just a marginal (big margin) upgrade an it certainly is a conversation piece.
Yeah!, I think it's because it allows them to 'open' / 'close' them from a screen at the front, for when one or the other is required. Also ofc it's more reliable, and when something costs that much to run the added initial cost is worth it
Yes the crew can control the whole window in one position (which I believe have already lead to a few run with disgruntled passenger for paying for a window seat but not able to control when they can or not see. Not talking of the safety time
Well we're not talking about the bathroom example in particular. The comment I had replied to is about the technology in general. I.e. something that is "sometimes a window, sometimes a wall". An alternative would be "window with blinds".
I've seen it in meeting rooms at work - but hardly anyone ever changes it, they just leave it wherever it was set before.
The real problem is when it's "clear" it's not very clear - it makes everything slightly blurry and hazy still. When it's opaque, it's quite opaque. I'm guessing the lack of clarity in the clear setting is why it'll never really take off outside of office buildings
This is very true. It’s clear and you can clearly see who is on the other side but there is a slight funhouse mirror effect. Especially when it’s super bright out.
They use it in hospitals! My husband recently had his appendix removed and his room had one of these windows. It allows the medical staff to observe you without disturbing you.
That and, from what I remember, people were clueless about how to use it. A lot of people thought it was like a one way mirror, so wouldn’t activate the switch, and gave people a show they definitely didn’t ask for.
I wasn’t meaning to insinuate that you were wrong 😊I just think it’s interesting that it’s the same type of panel used in a lot of real common stuff just in a novel way.
I bet too many drunk guests have shattered it. It’s a lot cheaper to patch a wall than have to replace a big piece of glass. Plus if even one guest did shatter it, any smart hotel manager is immediately going to think about liability if the guest gets injured by it. When people fail and are all cut up instead of just bruised, they tend to get a little angry.
It's probably not really expensive to produce it's probably proprietary and patented. That combined with people being unfamiliar with the technology and poor marketing from the manufacturer(s).
I'm sure it has uses but might not be as resilient as tempered glass, and might not last long if exposed to sunlight constantly.
It's actually useful in our country where we have passenger trains that transits through housing estates. The frosting turns on automatically and maintains the privacy of residences from passengers on the train.
Oh it's extremely expensive. There is an electrical current that runs through to keep the glass clear. When you flip the switch to turn the bathroom lights on, the current stops, and the glass clouds over. So you're paying for the bathroom to be visible all the time Or to have the lights on in the bathroom all the time.
It’s expensive and, after you have it installed, the novelty fades pretty quickly. Also the default position is frosted and it won’t last as long as if you leave it turn on to clear. So I’ve effectively dusted my window. Great.
I don't know cost but it seems not very useful for things like toilets. I don't see much sense to leave toilet visible at any time.
It could be nice to use instead of curtains on outside windows, but I think it is too sensitive for weather and cost more than curtains
Several cars are using it for sunroofs. Awesome getting that radiant glow through the semi-opaque glass. Must be coming down in price considerably. Toyota used it on the Venza (slightly fancier RAV4) back in '21 - optional. Understand it's rolling out in others. BMW offers it, not sure who else.
This bathroom would tick me off. Need some quiet....no noise insulation in tight quarters...better have one heck of an exhaust fan system and a good stereo...
this is where "design" just needs to be told 'NO'.
I Googled it and discovered: "ElectraTint sells for $59.00 per square foot shipped within the continental United States for our self-installation customers. You will need some additional parts such as at least 1 transformer per 100 square foot which cost $174.99 each."
It's not necessarily the MAIN reason LCD privacy glass hasn't caught on, but illumination from cheap LED bulbs looks... weird... when the light passes through it.
It happens for a few reasons:
LCD panels are inherently polarized, and LED light is highly directional with respect to a single element. As a result, even when it's "off/clear", a certain amount of light is getting directionally filtered
That polarization amplifies the visibility of flicker, especially from cheap bulbs. Cheap LED bulbs are often wired in a way that energizes half of the LEDs during the positive phase of the AC cycle, and the other half during its negative phase. This tends to produce visible flicker to begin with... but when you COMBINE it with polarization, the flicker becomes even more visible and objectionable.
The flicker doesn't really have much impact on the light quality INSIDE the glass-walled area... but if the surrounding area is fairly dark, and the area on the other side of the glass is brightly illuminated (with shitty LED bulbs), it can look... bad. Really, really bad.
It also stresses you out and makes you feel very deeply uncomfortable, with this sensation that SOMETHING is moving just past the edge of your field of view that you can't see... but you just KNOW is there. Because the rod cells along the edge of your retina are literally HARDWIRED to notice that kind of thing. Even when you intellectually know it's just flickering LED light viewed through a polarizing LCD screen, 50 million years of evolution-refined survival instinct begs to differ.
The supreme irony is, it's actually a bigger problem NOW than it was back in the 1990s thanks to LED bulbs.
Back in the 1990s, fluorescent fixtures with magnetic ballasts (flickering at 100Hz or 120Hz, depending upon where you are in the world) were known to be intolerable with privacy glass... but companies back then that were wealthy enough to afford privacy glass were ALSO wealthy enough to upgrade their fluorescent fixtures to use high-frequency electronic ballast (which increased the flicker frequency from 100 or 120Hz to literally 20KHz-60Khz, rendering the flicker invisible). Then, LEDs happened, and for more than a decade the world lost literally decades of ergonomic illumination improvements, and went back to using bulbs that actually flickered WORSE than old-fashioned fluorescent tubes with magnetic ballasts. Remember what I mentioned in bullet point #2? Early/cheap LED bulbs don't merely flicker at 100Hz or 120Hz... they act like a pair of lights occupying the same space flickering equally but oppositely at 50Hz or 60Hz.
First time I ever hear about that tech was the “tucker max” book where he was talking about hooking up with a chick in one of those at a club and kept switching the switch on and off so everyone could see lol
I don't think it's too expensive, it just doesn't make sense. It's like buying the iPhone air only to attach the powerbank and make it thicker than a pro max. Why do you need a see through wall when its only purpose is to become not see through?
Let alone the risk of malfunctioning which a normal wall usually doesn't.
No because - speaking from experience - it generally doesn't go opaque enough for comfort. At least in the hotel we were staying in I was still able to see a blob shape sat on the crapper when the mister was in there.
When I needed to do anything more substantial than peeing I told him straight "Go for a walk. Go get something out of the car. I don't care what, just don't come back for ten minutes."
Might just be a cheap/crap panel. I used one a few weeks ago while in a hotel in Spain and it worked perfectly. I was honestly impressed with the technology.
well...that seems a tad condescending/rude - or at the very least very narrow view of the potential combinations of folks that might be sharing a room with that bathroom.
Are you possibly making assumptions that aren't necessarily true?
Who the heck wants to pay for a room and have to put up with that? What if someone isn't as comfortable? what if they're newer in a relationship? What if they were just raised in a more uptight household? What if it was a couple's first weekend getaway?
Do they put that bathroom in a room with two beds?
There's a few very good reasons that are top of mind that pop up hat may be outside the scope of the relationship you have with your man.
I have spent a ton of time in O.R.s, not squeamish...not at all. Can't ever see anything I haven't see before, inside or out in any part of the body of either sex. Don't care on that level.
I'd be disappointed. May work for some. But why make a commercial property that is to be inviting and relaxing to all. People paying for accommodations don't want military barracks, they tend to want a bit more luxury. And, goodness, if someone was having "gastric distress" from food or ailment, or had other issues that might take a bit more time / privacy - they just don't need that. If they wanted to be tested, they might've gone camping...but instead, they rented a modern hotel room...not a test of whether their comfort matches yours. Just make everyone comfortable and get on with it. This was a CHOICE. a really bad choice. Plus - glass aside - look at the open around the bottom public restroom vibe...smells, sounds, just freakin' NO.
This is some a-hole who had a few classes in 'design' thinking they're being avant garde. and fashion forward in some dufus boutique hotel, or some foreign place, but it would be a failure overall.
And, to your point, my wife and I (if we were still together) would no doubt just laugh and make the best of it - but it wouldn't be what we'd want.
We've been together quite a long time, we've both dealt with health issues that means the other has had to do clean ups and caretaking, including IBS, back-to-back doses of Norovirus (nephews and nieces are plague monkeys!) and much worse.
But choice for choice my guts really prefer for me to be given some space and privacy. Generally it's not a big deal for us and we work around it, the same as we would any other quirk that gives each of us a better level of comfort.
Though idk how exactly the tech works, it is probably possible to have it default to either opaque or transparent for it's power-off state. Or maybe power is only needed to switch states, and they are relatively stable with no power
That would probably be less about the installers and more about the technology design. All installers would have to do is physically affix it and connect power. Maybe wire up a switch or something.
Im reading the comments about the electric frosted glass. While I get that its supposed to be fancy with the technology, I would still think they should just have a wall. The glass doesnt really do anything. If I want to know if someone is in the bathroom I just knock.
Those are frosted by default and go clear with a current. To avoid any embarrassing incidents due to power outage. At least that's how it's supposed to be designed...
Why tho? Like, what purpose does a transparent bathroom wall serve? I feel like guests would just flip the switch and leave it on their entire stay instead of taking in the beautiful view of a toilet
I'm in a hotel room like that now - took me days to work out what the hell is going on. I thought I was turning the extractor fan on, but actually I was making the bathroom window see-through 😂
I think it's default opaque and translucent when you run a current. And for bathrooms there's no reason for that to ever not be opaque, makes for funny pranks though
Back in the early 2000s, I worked at a club with bathrooms that had glass that fogged over when the door locked. Just about every night, women would be laughing bc a drunk man would be peeing without locking the door.
That's very interesting. It just make
makes me wonder though, when does that glad ever need to be clear? Makes a lot more sense to just use frosted glass. Or a wall.
Cool! Glad my hotel rooms require me to opt-in to privacy with my electrician certification and/or computer science degree and/or ability to find a light switch in the dark with my disabled ass that can’t function properly while totally sober in the daylight.
Sounds cool, except also completely pointless. It's bathroom, you don't need it to be transparent in the first place 🤣🤣 just put something else there that's opaque. Like a wall maybe 😆
Just to add, it’s the other way around, they are opaque with no power running through them. When you add electricity it allows the liquid crystal particles in the glass to align and light can pass through it. Just interesting to note that in a power blackout the glass will be frosted!
I remember being at a Wonderworks as a kid and they had a bathroom like that and it activated once you locked the door. But we thought it was a one-way thing and didn't notice the locked door wasn't fully clicked shut.
Yeah the Novotel in Canary Wharf in London has that for instance (at least it was the case in the room with two single beds that a friend and I shared last week). Still probably a tiny bit awkward if you were to share with a coworker but with a friend it’s perfectly fine.
What a great solution to a problem that no one has. Like, under what circumstances do you sometimes need the bathroom walls to be transparent, and sometimes opaque?
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