Is H9 bulb used for low beam safe on CX-5?

Hi,

I read a lot of older threads whom have been happy with H11 to H9 conversation on low beam head light.

Has anyone tried it on CX-5 and is this safe on long run?

I do not want to buy aftermarket plus halogen bulbs because of short bulb life. I do not want to go LED or HID either so this seems the only way to go.

Does anyone know spec (brightness and life time) on OEM Mazda bulb?

Thank you

I cant give you a guaranteed answer but I’ve been using the h9 bulb in my fog light since December 2015 without any problems. DDMI slim ballast 4300k HID in the lowbeams and h9 bulbs in the fog lights. Fogs are always turned on with the headlights in the evening/night.

H11 = about 1350 Lumens
H9 = about 2100 Lumens

If you use H9 replacing factory H11 which is still against your principle of not using brighter H11 bulbs with shorter life. For halogen bulb, the hotter the brighter, but the shorter the lifespan. H9 is 65W, which is illegal in the US on low-beam light as DOT is limited our low-beam wattage at 55W. H9 has higher light output due to its higher wattage, and harder driven filament which leads to shorter life. And H9 is designed for high-beam, hence there is no glare cap which will blind the oncoming drivers if our CX-5's low-beam lamp unit is not designed for it.

Although you may not need slight modification to plug in a H9 bulb into H11 socket on CX-5, but the electrical connector is slightly different and the twisting socket tabs are not identical between the two.

I'd find the H11 with more light output instead of H9, if I want upgrade the halogen headlights on CX-5.

If it's brighter, then it burns hotter, then it's more likely to melt your headlight housings. It also draws more current, so your headlight wiring is gonna be working harder/getting hotter.

Thank you for your reply. I will look at brighter H11 bulbs.
I have read owners manual, but the H11 bulb in CX5 is hard to reach. Has anyone changed their headlight yet?

Natey said:

If it's brighter, then it burns hotter, then it's more likely to melt your headlight housings. It also draws more current, so your headlight wiring is gonna be working harder/getting hotter.

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More likely,but not much more likely. 10 watts different. About 20% of about the heat of one and one half night lights. The current in the wires will go up from 4.2 amps to 5 amps. My guess is that the wire is 18 gauge and that will carry 16 amps. (for a reference Normal telephone wire run inside your home is 22 or 24 gauge (7 or 3.5 amps)

There's more than one victim of melted headlight housings/harnesses around here.