I have a controller with two available pins on the output connector. I want to read a push button, have a LED illuminate in that push button, and when the ecu is "alseep" wake the controller up as well.
So far i have though about wiring the switch contacts in parallel with the led illuminator, wiring a diode in series with the switch contacts but anti-phase to the intrinisic diode in the led.
Toc heck the switch state, the ecu connects connects a pull up resistor to the return wire of the switch/led combo, and looks for a voltage to be generated on the input wire, which has a pull down to ground. It could do this for a short period of time every say often (say every 20 ms or something). When the button isn't pushed, no voltage will be present because current cannot flow backwards through the led.
To illuminate the led, the controller applies a driving current in the opposite direction, which can't flow through the series switch/diode combo even when the switch is pressed, and so drives current through the led, and lights the led. Ever 20ms, that current output can be reversed for a few hundred uS to check for a switch press.
So far, so go (i think)
However, i also want the button to be able to wake up the ecu from sleep? And really i don't want that bit of circuitry to consume a large quiescent current. I'm sure there is a good way of doing this, but i can't right now come up with a very elegant solution?
Any ideas anyone?