Apologies if this is not the best forum for this, but just as a matter of curiosity I noticed something today about the in-dash information display in my car (R230 SL).

I was wearing new polarized sunglasses, and found that the display appears to be polarized at an odd angle. Viewed directly, the display is dim. Tilting my head to the right made it very clear and bright, but tilting an equal amount to the left made it disappear completely.

This seems to indicate that either the display or the sunglasses are polarized at something like a 45 degree angle rather than on a horizontal or vertical axis.

Wondering if anyone else has noticed this, and whether there is a good solution for viewing the display while wearing sunglasses (custom-oriented polarization? M-B sunglasses?)

 

This gets my vote as the strangest MB complaint I've heard

 

Here's how to find out which is wrong. Go to a sunglass shop wearing your Polarized sunglasses. Hold another pair of polaized glasses face to face with yours & slowly rotate the pair in your hand 90 degrees clockwise while looking thru the right lens of yours and thru the lens of the pair you are rotating. When the other pair is 90 degrees off axis from the ones on your face they will be cross polarized & you will not see thru the 2 lenses what is across the room. Do the same for the left lens next. If the pair of glasses in your hand causes you NOT to see across the room at anything other than 90 degrees, YOUR glasses are not made correctly with the polarizing filter set at the 180 degree line.

If in doubt, try 2 pair of new glasses that the store is selling (1 on your face, 1 in your hand)

I am an Optician... there are many polarized sunglasses improperly made, but passed as "OK" without regard to how much they cost you.

 

Perhaps that's the MB's way to force you to buy only MB polarized sunglasses

 

Hey Anil, your sunglasses (like just about any polarized sunglasses) are polarized vertically, this is because of the way light generally becomes polarized when it bounces off surfaces.

LCDs work on the principal of polarized light. There are two polarized filters sandwiching a liquid crystal panel.

The center console display in your car is polarized 45 degrees in one direction (bad choice Mercedes!). I don't know if you noticed this, but your COMAND is polarized 45 degrees in the other direction! If you tilt your head to the right to view the COMAND, the screen will go black. COMAND is much better suited to sunglasses wearers in right-hand drive countries.

Some of the "3D" glasses that use polarized light (remember Captain Eo?) use two polarizing filters each at 45 degrees from vertical, 90 degrees from each other. These would be perfect for viewing COMAND and your instrument cluster at the same time, as one eye could view each device.

I believe this has been fixed in the later cars... for instance, I don't think I experience this issue with my E55, as everything is now polarized vertically. Or maybe not, I forget.

Do a search on earlier threads, I think we've discussed this before.

-s-

 

I find that it's difficult to use polarized lenses in any newer car. All of the different displays are polarized at different angles and it's easy to have certain functions blanked out.

In my 03 R230, so long as I keep my head almost perfectly level, all displays are visible, however a tilt to the left or right either blanks out COMAND, or the multi-function display. But at least they've visible. I drove a BMW where I couldn't find most of the functions because I couldn't see them through my glasses.

Anyway, I don't wear polarized lenses when I drive anymore. Problem solved.

 

Yep, you're right. I hadn't noticed that previously, but I did verify it - the COMAND display is indeed polarized around 90 degrees off from the instrument cluster display.

Ah, my bad, should have searched. Yes, looks like several people noted the 45 degree polarization of the instruments and COMAND. Guess I'll have to try the polarized lenses for a while and see if they're acceptable while driving, or revert to non-polarized ones in the car.

Thanks, as always an informative forum.

 

Thanks for the guidance on this - I did check before buying that the glasses were polarized by doing the 90 degree rotation against another pair at the store, but since they were the same brand that didn't really help nail down the exact axis. Referencing against a bunch of different pairs would, however, give reasonable confidence that the axis was aligned properly.

Anyhow, sounds like the M-B displays are indeed polarized off-axis, so I'm not hallucinating. This time :-)

 

Well, I tried it yesterday (since we've had such nice weather for WINTER) and guess what... the instrument cluster is now polarized vertically, so it is perfectly inline with sunglasses. However, the COMAND (even though it is a different manufacturer!) is still polarized at 135 degrees... so leaning to the right to look at it causes it to go black. Maybe this is so that when video-in-motion is on in the car, the driver can't see it well, but the passenger is good.

-s-

 

Funny you should mention this. I noticed this a while ago and filed for and received a patent for polarized glasses that eliminate this problem. I am a physicist and I am trying to find out how I can approach the right organization to market the license. It is not just a problem for dash displays, but all (most) LCD screens in PDAs, laptops, cell phones, etc.

 

Wow, you better get on that quick! These glasses are marketed in other countries already. Many LCD displays have polarizing diffuser filters on top of the final polarizing filter to eliminate this problem as well.

-s-