Ranger Mods

I have a 2021 Ranger Raptor (EU Spec) and I want to add an LED light bar to work alongside the high beams.
The factory headlights on this is full LED (LED in both high and low beam) instead of the older xenon/halogen.

To get the signal for the relay to turn on the LED light bar I have purchased a headlight patch harness.
I have had the harness connected to the car with a multimeter on the leads and can confirm that the harness supplies ~12v when high beam is on and ~0v when high beam is on.

So far all seams good.

But when reading the "Ford Ranger Body and Equipment Mounting Manual" (although for the 2019 model year) I can see that there are two electrical architectures for the Ranger, either Low Level or High Level vehicles, and that the type is determined/identified by the fuse box.
Based on this information I have identified my Ranger as a High Level.
But in the section of the manual on adding additional external lamps it seems that splicing into the headlamp wires (which is what the headlight patch harness does) is only for the Low Level vehicles.

Based on this information I am a bit hesitant on connecting a relay coil to the high beam wiring via the patch harness in fear of frying the BCM.

The relays I have are without flyback suppression on the coil so in theory the transients when switching the relay could fry the output mosfets in the BCM.

I have tried sourcing relays with a flyback suppression diode on the coil though my local HELLA distributor, but they are struggling to get them delivered as they are not in stock.

My question therefore is: What have other High Level vehicle owners done and what would you recommend that I do?
Is my fear of frying the BCM with transients from an unsuppressed relay reasonable or does automotive grade electronics already have sufficient suppression built in?

I think things would be fine...

You could always just put a diode in series with the feed to the external lamp relay. This should provide sufficient protection to the BCM (the relay coil current draw will be <1A).

I could be wrong, but I thought the high level was a 2WD model, as in high rider?

CatHerder wrote: ↑Fri Jul 09, 2021 10:06 am I think things would be fine...

You could always just put a diode in series with the feed to the external lamp relay. This should provide sufficient protection to the BCM (the relay coil current draw will be <1A).

I never thought of a diode in series with the feed, that might just work.

GerryP wrote: ↑Fri Jul 09, 2021 8:29 pm I could be wrong, but I thought the high level was a 2WD model, as in high rider?

I don't really know what the difference is between the High and Low models, but my passenger fuse box matches the High Level in the manual.

I have never seen a low level on any model local vehicles. If they exist it would only be on mine spec vehicles.

As per Ian, if you are concerned then use a diode although there are 1000's of Rangers using standard relays out there for aux lights.

saeb wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 3:14 pm As per Ian, if you are concerned then use a diode although there are 1000's of Rangers using standard relays out there for aux lights.

Thank you, that makes me a lot more confident, I think I will just go ahead and do it the easy way without the diode.

Since the electrics of a car/truck is already a very noisy and hostile environment regarding EMI it stands to reason that the BCM might already have adequate protection.