H11A Or H11B, And The Ground/return Wire Shadow | Mazdas247

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You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. H11A or H11B, and the ground/return wire shadow

• Thread starter Thread starter RWatters
• Start date Start date Mar 2, 2017

R

RWatters

Member

: 16.5 CX-5 GT In my quest to install HIDs in our CX-5 GT (non LED package), I searched on this forum and went through quite a few threads going over what bulb type to use. In each thread it was never definitively stated whether the CX-5 uses an H11A or an H11B bulb. There was also talk about some having the ground shadow problem while others didn't. A lot of those who stated they did not have the ground shadow simply stated they used an H11 bulb but did not specify which one. In some cases the specified bulb from The Retrofit Source was stated to have the shadow and not have the shadow all in the same thread! Maybe it's been covered in another thread since, but I couldn't find in the CX-5 section of this forum which bulb was confirmed as the one you should use so I did a little research myself and wanted to share my findings with you all. This thread is for the CX-5 with the projector lens housing. I know nothing of the non projector lens housings. How to tell whether you need H11A or H11B: As referenced above, it's as easy as looking at the back of the headlight housing and seeing where the widest tab is positioned at. Specifically we want to know whether it's on the top or bottom. In our case that isn't all that easy to do. Thankfully salvage companies that like to sell headlights (and take pictures of said headlights) exist so I was able to find a picture that helps. The arrow I've drawn in points to the location of the widest tab. It's on the top. Because of this, we can conclude that the non-LED CX-5s require the H11B bulb. For the record, The Retrofit Source states this as well on their website if you put in your car information before shopping. The ground/return wire shadow: (This image was borrowed from the internet. It's not originally taken by me.) It's called the ground shadow, ground wire shadow, return wire shadow, etc. It has many names, but what matters the most is that it doesn't look good and it's annoying if you're OCD like myself. You can see it in all it's glory in the above image. What causes it? The position of the bulb in the housing. When the bulb is installed upside down, the return wire on the bulb causes a shadow in the light output from the projector. The only fix is the correct position of the bulb itself which can be done either by buying the correct bulb or by modifying your existing bulb so that you can re-position it (which we're not going to go over how to do today). I took this picture after installing an H11B bulb in the drivers side headlight and an H11A bulb in the passenger. The car is angled so it's not the best picture, but notice the shadow coming from the H11A side that's missing from the H11B side? Knowing whether your CNLight bulb is an H11A or an H11B: This part is for those who buy lights from CNLight. I believe the majority of setups you can buy from vendors online likely have bulbs made by CNLight, but I don't know if they change the stampings on their bulbs so this is specifically for CNLight bulbs only (until proven otherwise). I'm including this because it caused a lot of confusion on my part and took clarification from a vendor for me to understand. CNLight does not mark their bulbs as H11A or as H11B. The H11A bulb is marked as H11, and the H11B bulb is marked, strangely enough, as H16. I confirmed this with Diode Dynamics as, originally, I thought the wrong bulb was sent to me. This is an H11A bulb. This is an H11B bulb despite it saying it's an H16. I hope all of this information helps those who choose to install HIDs in their CX-5. If there's a thread that's already covered it and I just wasn't able to find it, disregard. Happy motoring! Last edited: Mar 2, 2017 T

tibimakai

San Dimas CA

: USA : 2014 CX-5 Touring Nice info!! Please log in or register to reply here.

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