Cephos relay module design time-line

2010: The Cephos C-BT53 relay module was designed and developed in-house when we could no longer source the original BT53 type for a customer’s pcb assembly – we had exhausted all distributors’ available stocks of alternatives such as the Fujitsu BT53 and FBR46, Panasonic / Nais DF2, Omron G5A etc.

2011: Siemens and Tyco had ceased production of a commonly used four pole signaling relays named V23104 and MT4 – although an equivalent model had subsequently been designed by TE to replace these obsolete versions, even those alternative units had ceased to be manufactured due to falling demand. At this time, Cephos designed a replacement that no longer needed to be selected for specific coil polarity, as the original MT4 type was not polarised, the Cephos C-MT4 was designed to use two fourth generation polarised relays together with an on-board polarity selector switch that would suit installation into any circuit .

2012: Cephos had a customer request to design and develop a replacement for the Panasonic DS4E four pole relay that had become very hard to source from any distributor world-wide – this proved popular as an alternative not only for the Omron G6A-434P with the same footprint and function, but also the Takamisawa RA4 and one customer has recently pointed out that it is a viable alternative for the obsolete IMO EN4-CW relay.

2013: The Cephos C-TQ4 was designed and manufactured as a drop-in alternative to the Panasonic four pole TQ4 relay that had ceased production a few years before and there was no longer a distributor to be found with adequate stock.

2013: The Panasonic NF4EB and Omron LZN4 four pole relays had been difficult to obtain for some time, there were a few enthusiast-designed alternatives but Cephos customers requested that we design a top quality version that utilised our popular gold finished pinning, the result was the Cephos C-NF4EB – a replacement for the original Panasonic and Omron variants with not only the Cephos gold-finished pins but also a polarity selector switch as the originals were not polarised.

2014: Following an enquiry from a major component manufacturer, the Cephos C-TK1 was designed to replace the then obsolete Panasonic TK1. That initial enquiry required production of a 9V dc coil voltage, subsequently Cephos manufactured not only the 9V version but also made available 5V, 12V and 24V variants.

2015 to the present day: Cephos continues to design, manufacture and supply directly all of the above module designs which usually use the Axicom IM series of relays, and is currently manufacturing a range of variants of the existing range which use the Hongfa small signal relays. Cephos also designs and manufactures various relay modules specifically for special customer requirements including single and twin coil bistable relays.