Thank you for reading my question, I hope to learn a new way to solve my problem. I don't expect anyone to design a cicuit etc as hopefully I can do that myself, just some pointers at possible components to consider.
I have a device that has a built in electronic timer, after a while an LED lights up and I have to press a button to continue using the device.
The button is just a normally open contact switch.
My first thought is to use an arduino and either directly from the LED or via an opto-isolator monitor the LED, when it lights up use the arduino to momentarily close the switch thus resetting the internal timer.
The circuit board itself has regulated 12v and 5v available but since it is mains powered I can power from pretty much anything.
Perhaps there are some other IC's or transistor etc I could use on some bread-board to trigger the switch instead of having an arduino.
I'm not very familiar with how to do this so any pointers at what to look at would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks.