Architects and designers
Specify it with the numbers in front of you
Switchable glass reaches most drawings as the words "smart glass" and reaches the site as whatever the contractor could source. The gap between those two is where projects go wrong. PriWatt manufactures the product, so the answers come from the plant rather than from a distributor reading a datasheet.
Before it is drawn, and after
Samples in hand
Samples for qualified projects, because a client who has switched a panel themselves asks better questions than one who has seen a photograph of one.
Technical consultation
Which mode the room wants, which format the building programme allows, and what the panel does about acoustics, solar gain and the edge condition.
Shop drawings before fabrication
Every project starts with a technical review. Sizes, cut-outs, the wiring exit and the tolerances are agreed while they are still drawings.
A manufacturer to call
When the detail is unusual — a curve, a railing, a cleanroom viewing panel — the answer comes from the people who would have to make it.
The six lines that make it buildable
Switchable glass arrives on drawings underspecified more often than it arrives overspecified. These are the lines that decide whether what is delivered is what was drawn:
- The mode — stated as which state the panel holds with no power, not as a product name
- The format: laminated switchable glass, or self-adhesive film applied to existing glazing
- Panel sizes and shapes with the cut-outs the hardware needs — the maximum is 165 in tall and 57 to 72 in wide depending on the product
- The transformer and the control, sized to the run and named
- The edge condition: how the busbar is anchored and where the wiring leaves the panel
- Certification to cite rather than assume — UL file E514182, SGCC 9894
Add an acoustic figure where the room needs one; it is a property of the whole glass make-up rather than of the liquid crystal, so it is quoted per build-up. A switchable partition at a Toronto investment office was specified at Rw 35–36 dB, and the same panel doubles as a rear-projection screen.
Reading before you specify
PDLC against PNLC, with the numbers
Haze, privacy, switching, voltage, power draw and maximum panel, side by side.
Reverse mode, in full
What changes when the glass is clear with no power — and the rooms it is wrong for.
Inside an insulated unit
What a switchable layer changes on a facade: solar gain, HVAC load, what comes off the elevation.
Cost per square foot
Ranges for film and glass, what moves the number, and what is quoted separately.
Patents and certifications
UL E514182, SGCC 9894 and the patents behind the busbar anchoring.
Fifteen projects in service
Offices, clinics, museums, studios, railings and a cleanroom — the constraint each one had.
Not quite what you do?
Installers and glaziers
Take on switchable work in your city — trained, certified, and first call for projects in your area.
Window and door manufacturers
Offer a switchable option inside your own line, built to your sizes and your hardware.
Glass and IGU fabricators
Add a switchable layer to what you already build, with the edge detail solved.
Thirteen documents, sent to your inbox
The certificates, the three-part specification, the independent test reports and four CAD details as PDF and editable DXF. Ask for the ones the project needs and they arrive as attachments — not as a link that expires before the drawing is issued.
| Document | What it covers |
|---|---|
| CSI specification — 08 88 00 | The three-part spec, ready to edit into a project manual |
| UL certification — file E514182 | The electrical system, evaluated by UL Solutions |
| SGCC certificate 9894 | Safety glazing certification for the laminated products |
| Acoustic performance — STC | Independently tested sound transmission, EVA laminate |
| ASTM E662 · ASTM E1354 | Smoke density, and heat and smoke release by cone calorimeter |
| Bombardier SMP 800-C | Toxic gas generation under combustion |
| CAD — laminated glass make-up | Typical section, PDF and editable DXF |
| CAD — film on existing glazing | Retrofit section, PDF and editable DXF |
| CAD — wiring schematic | Panel, transformer, control — PDF and DXF |
| CAD — maximum panel sizes | Panel limits and layout — PDF and DXF |
| Isolation transformers | Ratings and dimensions for the units that drive the panels |
| PNLC reverse glass brochure | The reverse-mode product and where it is specified |
Request the documents
Tell us who you are and which documents the project needs. They are sent to the address you give — and if you would rather talk through the specification first, say so in the last box and a specialist will call.
Samples and a technical consultation are available for qualified projects. Call (833) 333-8556, or send a message.