Brown Out (Mains Restoration) Timers are specialised control relays that detect short-duration undervoltage events (brownouts) and manage the controlled restart of equipment when the supply returns to normal. By issuing a defined reset pulse or a stabilisation delay on voltage recovery, they ensure contactors, relays and other electro-mechanical devices return to a known, safe state after dips that may have caused partial drop-out or indeterminate logic. Charter Controls supplies brown-out restoration timers primarily from GIC (with select models from HIQUEL) for DIN-rail and panel applications.
🔧 Technical Highlights:
- Function: monitors supply for undervoltage; on restoration above a set threshold, provides a reset pulse and/or timed delay before re-energising outputs
- Undervoltage threshold & hysteresis: adjustable pick-up/drop-out levels and hysteresis to ignore minor sags and noise
- Restoration delay: adjustable delay-on-restore (ms to minutes, model dependent) to allow supply stabilisation
- Reset pulse: configurable output pulse to reinitialise contactors, interlocks and latching circuits
- Supply range: wide-range 12–240 V AC/DC options (GIC); fixed-voltage variants available
- Outputs: SPDT (1CO) or DPDT (2CO) relay contacts rated up to 8–10 A (resistive)
- Indication: LEDs for power, fault/undervoltage, and relay state
- Housing: compact 17.5 mm or 22.5 mm DIN-rail modules; panel-mount formats available
- Immunity: EMC-hardened design to reject transient spikes and brief sags
- Compliance: CE and RoHS; designed for continuous industrial duty
✅ Benefits:
- Prevents undefined states after voltage dips by enforcing a clean, coordinated restart
- Reduces nuisance trips and manual resets, improving uptime
- Protects motors, contactors and PLC I/O from rapid cycling on unstable mains
- Adjustable thresholds and delays tailor behaviour to site conditions
- Simple retrofit into existing control panels
🚀 Applications:
- Control panels with contactor banks that may partially drop out during sags
- Pump sets, conveyors and HVAC where a clean restart is critical
- Machinery interlocks and safety circuits requiring deterministic reset after mains restoration
- Remote or weak-grid sites with frequent brownouts
- Process lines where uncoordinated restarts can cause jams or scrap
Brown-out (mains restoration) timers detect undervoltage events and manage recovery with a defined reset and stabilisation delay — restoring electro-mechanical devices to a safe, known state and improving system reliability.