Fog light H11 to H9 bulb conversion

[yf1]

I posted this up on an Australian forum - interested to see whether anyone else has tried this. Firstly, some background. I have read this chaps articles before and he seems to know everything there is to know about automotive lighting.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/p.../products.html

Look what he says about the H11:



H11 bulbs

These new single-filament 55w bulbs are quickly supplanting HB4/9006 in new low-beam headlamp and fog lamp designs. (They are not physically interchangeable with any 9000-series bulb!) As is the case with other bulb families—such as 9004/9007, 9005/9006, etc.—the H11 has different base keys than its H9 high-beam and H8 fog lamp counterparts. Somebody goofed on the spec, though, for the difference between H11 and H9 base keys is insufficient; it's too easy to install an H9 bulb where an H11 belongs. The difference in light output between these two designs is enormous (1350 lumens from the H11, 2100 from the H9), so putting an H9 in place of an H11 will obviously cause the lamp to produce a lot more light. Some lamps are designed such that the optics would handle the extra light well, without creating excessive glare for other road users. Many, however, are not. As with H8 and H9, H11 bulbs are not widely available in the aftermarket.



H9 bulbs

These new single-filament 65w bulbs are rapidly gaining popularity amongst automakers for use primarily in high-beam headlamps, often in conjunction with H11 bulbs for the low beams. H9 is an extremely high output design (2100 lumens) with an extremely white light color.
H9 bulbs are not physically interchangeable with any 9000-series bulb. As with H8 and H11, these are currently tough to find in the aftermarket.


So following what Mr Stern says - a H9 fog bulb should fit a H11 application giving off 2100 lumens instead of 1350 yet only draw 65w. I found this discussion on an Australian forum:

http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=34619

They rave about it on the LS1 forum - saying there is 50% more light with just changing to a H9 globe.

Is anyone prepared to try this? I am without my car until January (travelling) and very interested if someone with the fogs gives this a go. Post up some pics of your impressions and whether there were any fitment issues. On the LS1 forum they mention some minor changes to the globe socket.

[Zeeshan]

I'm eventually just going to do a fog HID coonversion.

[yf1]

I did the fog light conversion and it works great! DIY to follow...

[MemphisRheins]

Cool post pictures when your done...

Im currently running PIAA Hyper Yellow H11's in Euro R Foglights, so the light output is already far from DOT legal...

[yf1]

Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and I take no responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You do this entirely at your own risk.



The problem: The stock 55w H11 fog lights on the CL9 are not particularly powerful. To put it blunt they are useless. They are a cosmetic feature to enable you to ‘be seen’ rather than provide you with any useful light output.

The solution: Convert very efficient H9 type globes to fit the stock H11 fog light harness. The result is an increase in lumens output from 1350 lumens in the stock form to a massive 2100 lumens in the H9 type (also a whiter output).



The increase in wattage is a measly 10 watt (65w compared to stock 55w) so there should not be any associated heat problems typical with increasing wattage. The fog light covers are also made from glass so the risks of overheating are minimal in my opinion.



Credits: Credit goes to the website below for giving me the idea to modify a H9 globe to fit a H11 socket. He doesn’t give instructions as to how to perform the conversion but it is self explanatory once you look closely at the sockets. As far as I am aware no one has attempted this modification on a CL9 Euro before.



Props to http://www.danielsternlighting.com/p.../products.html


Cost: 2 xH9 globes. I purchased some cheap and nasty H9 globes on ebay for $12. They are blue coated bulbs . Coated bulbs are not recommended if you are looking for maximum light output. If you want maximum output use a standard clear H9 globe.



Tools required: Stanley knife or similar.



Step 1:



Get your H9 globes. The H9 and H11 globes are physically the same size! So no fitment issues in the housing. This pic is what the H9 I purchased looks like. The stock globe looks the same - except for clear glass.










Compare the socket of the stock H11 globe to the H9 globe in these pictures below.



Stock H11 globe below






H9 globe below





Note how the H9 globe has an extra piece of plastic ridging in the socket? (NB: the photo above was skewed when I resized it. Not to worry - I assure you the H9 and H11 are the same shape and size).






Step 2:



Being very careful not to touch the glass – you need to use your Stanley knife to slowly cut away the socket ridging so the H9 globe fitting looks exactly like the stock H11 globe fitting. One ridge needs to be removed with the knife. If you work slowly this should be easy to do.



The end result should look like this.









Step 3:



Fit the globe to the vehicle. No other modification is required. If you have cut the globe socket properly the globe will fit the fog harness in the vehicle perfectly.



Results:



These pics below are of the fog light and parking lights only! The headlights are turned off!! Not bad aye for $12. You will get even better results using a clear globe and adjusting the beams correctly (I haven’t done this yet). There is a screw underneath the fog housing to adjust the beam up and down.



Borat’s review on this mod is “Wa wa wee wo, I like very much!”…




If you try this DIY let me know what you think of the results.

__________________
Euro 6mt / Prodrive 17" GCO7C / Dunlop 235 3000As / Rays and McGuard lock nuts / Comptech Icebox / ITG Racing filter / Whiteline Sway Bar / Cusco Strut Brace / DC5R shifter / Apexi RSM / Honda A-SPEC suspension / Euro R Body Kit

[Peregrine]

good job
I'll add this to our DIY Menu

[lcrazyaznl]

Awesome he is right though the foglights are pretty useless i feel they don't light enough.

[tsxd23]

Has anyone on here other then the one person I found when I searched switched to H9 bulbs on there fog lights? Is it really any better, any problems?
I have yellow H11 55w bulbs now and they are not that brite. I don't want to switch to a higher watt bulb because I had problems with that on my RSX and I don't want HIDS fogs. Here is where I found the one person who did the switch to H9 bulbs Fog light H11 to H9 bulb conversion

[Peregrine]

any questions about the conversion, you should continue in the thread you're referring to.

[Peregrine]

(merged)

[BlueTSX05]

are the h9 bulbs available in yellow

[Jay481985]

the mtec H9 do not fit in the foglight housing. I learned this the hard way.... There are three notches (metal welds) on the mtec that actually hold the metal part right below the bulb that prevent the bulb from fitting securely in the housing. Do not use mtec h9, I broke it trying to get the three notches off

[pizzaman555]

I did the HID fog converstion and its like 2 sets of driving lights.

[Jay481985]

the metal notches have nothing to do with the fitment. I noticed the second time around that the mtec h9 metal fins need to be cut as the h9 I believe is big on one side as opposed to the h11.

I should have read this first:
"The H9 globe and the H11 look more or less the same except that if you hold them side by side the locating lugs on the bulb-base are slightly different. the top one (closest to the wiring plug) is asymetrical and the one on the H9 is sort of biased to the left and the H11 is biased to the right . to make them fit I just used a pair of good snips to trim about 3mm off the left side of the top lug so that it became roughly symetrical."

[1TSXer]

I just did a 6000k HID conversion on my fogs and man they rock.