Electrical noob needs wiring help! ( Headlights )

[trapical]

So I got some new headlights today for a steal of a deal from my friend!

And I'd like to install them..But I'm not 100% sure on how to wire these up...

apart from the 3-prong plug and 2 ground wires, what do I do with the 2 positive red wires? what pre-existing wire in my car do I connect them with?
They're some halo lights if that helps.

Can I wrap the 2 ground wires together and secure them together? Or will that cause some sort of short or malfunctioning?

Sorry for the extreme ignorance, but electrical work in cars is far from being my forte, so any and all help is always greatly appreciated

[validius]

Yes, tie the grounds together and ground to chassis.

What to do with positive wires depends on the desired behavior. Likely you will want the Halo & running lights to come on with the running lights. If so, then tie them into the marker light circuit. Depending on wattage you may want to add a relay.

Personally, if i thought there was an angel eye headlight worth having (nope), i'd connect only the angel eye and leave the city light unconnected.

[trapical]

Yes, tie the grounds together and ground to chassis.

What to do with positive wires depends on the desired behavior. Likely you will want the Halo & running lights to come on with the running lights. If so, then tie them into the marker light circuit. Depending on wattage you may want to add a relay.

Personally, if i thought there was an angel eye headlight worth having (nope), i'd connect only the angel eye and leave the city light unconnected.

Thanks for the reply!

I decided to just do the halo part so I took the smaller bulbs out. So now I just have 1 red wire to figure out ( This wire powers the halo )

I'll continue to be a noob and ask: what wire specifically do I connect it to?

Here's what I have on the passenger side:







I really should have someone with me, but I don't know anyone that knows how to do this stuff :/

[Mo Brighta]

Connect the black wire to a ground, brown wires in all BMWs are ground.

Connect the red wire to a parking light or side marker positive feed, such as grey/red, grey/white, grey/yellow, etc. Practically ALL parking lights, along with side marker, license plate, dash panel, instrument, etc. lights, are grey with a color band. This will light them with the parking lights.

If you want the lights to show any time the car is running, like daytime running lights, you will need to find a curcuit that is hot with the ignition, usually a green wire color with a band of some other color. This gets more complicated, and you would be advised to consult a trusted shop that knows BMW. But you know this, right?

The pics you posted are headlight wires, no parking light leads among them. Headlights are brown (ground), yellow/color (low beam) and white/color (high beam). The 'color' is a band to tell you which circuit it uses and the lights it feeds.

I would solder the leads and use terminals to obtain a positive connection, but it sounds like soldering is not in your toolbox. Posi-tap connectors can be used, but they damage insulation of the wiring harness so I avoid them, but it's your car.

[trapical]

Connect the black wire to a ground, brown wires in all BMWs are ground.

Connect the red wire to a parking light or side marker positive feed, such as grey/red, grey/white, grey/yellow, etc. Practically ALL parking lights, along with side marker, license plate, dash panel, instrument, etc. lights, are grey with a color band. This will light them with the parking lights.

If you want the lights to show any time the car is running, like daytime running lights, you will need to find a curcuit that is hot with the ignition, usually a green wire color with a band of some other color. This gets more complicated, and you would be advised to consult a trusted shop that knows BMW. But you know this, right?

The pics you posted are headlight wires, no parking light leads among them. Headlights are brown (ground), yellow/color (low beam) and white/color (high beam). The 'color' is a band to tell you which circuit it uses and the lights it feeds.

I would solder the leads and use terminals to obtain a positive connection, but it sounds like soldering is not in your toolbox. Posi-tap connectors can be used, but they damage insulation of the wiring harness so I avoid them, but it's your car.

Meah, I'm just going to finish mounting these lights to the housing units and roll this heap to a shop and let them do it before I manage to fuck something up.

Thank you very much for the reply; Very informative and certainly noted.

[trapical]

Found.