E91 Angel Eyes, help getting them working

[Fermit]

The car - E91 335i touring. Single xenon headlights.

Hopefully a E9x member may be able to give me some pointers where I'm going wrong. My OS Angel eye isn't working. The headlight access trim on the wheel lining, pictured below, was missing when I bought the car. Now (as pictured) bought and fitted.



This resulted in the original AE bulb getting wrecked, as such -



Note, the crimps rusted solid to the bulbs. The ONLY way to remove the bulb was accordingly to snap the (green and brown) wires they were attached to. This left me with bare wires. The solution, I bought some female spade crimps, fitted them to the two wires, and clamped them tight with some pliers.



Note, these female spades attach straight on to the replacement LED AE bulbs, like such.



After doing this, I assumed that plugging in the bulbs into the newly fitted crimps would see them working. Has it bks!

The only other noteworthy point, is that the bulbs were supplied with these cables



Identical crimps to the ones attached to the wires. I can not see anywhere where the two pin female on the other end of the cable could attach, to anywhere on the rear of the headlight.

So. Questions.

1. Is there any point in the above I am being a complete tool, and missing something obvious or important?
2. Is using pliers enough to grip the female spade to the bare wires, or is there for example a special tool required?
3. Does anyone have any thoughts where the other end of the supplied cable attaches, and it's as simple as I need to use this?

I'm loathed to hand this over to an auto electrician, as logic tells me I should be able to sort it myself. Pulling my hair out mind, can anyone please help?!

[Jakg]

Fermit said:

2. Is using pliers enough to grip the female spade to the bare wires, or is there for example a special tool required?

You use a crimp tool for crimp terminals. Pliers might work, but you'd need to assure it was a good grip and not moving on the cable itself.

How long has the bulb been out for? Did you have a bulb warning on the dash? Thinking FRM short circuit counter might need resetting.

[Fermit]

Jakg said:

You use a crimp tool for crimp terminals. Pliers might work, but you'd need to assure it was a good grip and not moving on the cable itself.

How long has the bulb been out for? Did you have a bulb warning on the dash? Thinking FRM short circuit counter might need resetting.

OK, I'll get one bought. I squeezed the pliers with all my might, but if they're not the correct tool for the job, it may have been in vain. The only bulb out warning I've had is when one of the xenons failed. The bulb has been out for many months, only just got around to looking at it. I'll take a look at that guide also, cheers.

edit to add. Will this suffice, before I get it purchased?

Edited by Fermit on Saturday 6th April 17:50

[12TS]

I think pliers could be your issue.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/forge-steel-crimping-pl...

Crimpers aren’t expensive.

[Fermit]

12TS said:

I think pliers could be your issue.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/forge-steel-crimping-pl...

Crimpers aren’t expensive.

OK, brill. That's two posters saying similar. I trust screwfix stuff, so if that's best I'll buy them, but would the cheaper ones I linked also suffice (as I don't know if I'll ever have use for them again)

[12TS]

I’ve had that sort of crimper and I’m not a fan. They don’t tend to have a bit in the middle to push up.

Cheaper one from screw fix here.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/magnusson-crimping-tool...

[Ian Geary]

Sorry, can't help with the wiring queries.

But for years I had the cheap crimping pliers you get in draper kits.


Then I saw these https://www.screwfix.com/p/ratchet-crimping-tool-7...

Which I find gives much better results.


Whilst on topic, I also found connectors that need folding over have really good results from this sort of tool


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Laser-7642-Crimping-Plier...

Whereas normal pliers will just squash the foldy bits without gripping anything. (These connectors would typically have a sleeve slid over them afterwards, rather than the plastic coated terminals used with the first tool)