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I had a couple of quick questions. I am designing a board using 10 IO expanders which I'll use as inputs. Each has an !INT pin which is open drain and pulled high to 5v through a resistor. Can I attach all of these pins together to effectively create a 10 input 'AND' of all the interrupt pins to be read by a uC? Additionally, each of these chips has a !RESET pin that also operate open drain and are pulled high to 5V through a resistor. Could I effectively reset all of my chips at the same time by connecting them together and pulling the line low? Finally, I know that I2C operates using open-drain inputs/outputs and you need the pull-up resistors decently close to the actual chips but since my !INT and !RESET lines aren't going to switch at nearly the same frequency, could I get away with a single pull-up resistor for each of the two lines?

The IO Expander I'm using: http://www.nxp.com/documents/data_sheet/PCA6416A.pdf

I2C Bus Switcher: http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tca9548a.pdf

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    \$\begingroup\$ What's an open drain input? \$\endgroup\$
    – Majenko
    Feb 5, 2015 at 21:59
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    \$\begingroup\$ And the answer to your question is: yes - that's exactly why they ARE open drain outputs. \$\endgroup\$
    – Majenko
    Feb 5, 2015 at 21:59
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    \$\begingroup\$ This approach has worked for 50 years, at least. Not clear why it would suddenly stop working. Ohm's law hasn't been repealed yet. \$\endgroup\$
    – Hot Licks
    Feb 5, 2015 at 22:05
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    \$\begingroup\$ i2c is a very different beast. Too high a resistance and the waveform is distorted by the input voltage rising too slowly. Too low and you waste current or overload your open drain outputs. It's a fine balancing act. For interrupts you don't really have that kind of problem. \$\endgroup\$
    – Majenko
    Feb 5, 2015 at 22:15
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    \$\begingroup\$ This technique of connecting several open-connector or open-drain outputs is sometimes called "wired OR". \$\endgroup\$
    – Nick Alexeev
    Feb 5, 2015 at 22:18

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Yes. Open drain outputs act like a switch to ground. The resistor acts as a pullup for when none of the outputs are active.

If you replace the open drain outputs in your circuit with buttons its easier to visualise:

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I think the right most label in the figure should be "output" instead of "input". \$\endgroup\$
    – nidhin
    Feb 12, 2015 at 18:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ Depends on your point of view. It's the output of the circuit, but it connects to the input of the MCU. \$\endgroup\$
    – Majenko
    Feb 12, 2015 at 18:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yes it depends. The word "open-drain input" in OP made me think that way. :) \$\endgroup\$
    – nidhin
    Feb 12, 2015 at 18:15

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