The TIC12400-Q1 has a built-in ADC and a comparator that can be used to monitor resistor coded switches or digital switches. Digital switch inputs have only two states, either open or closed, and can be adequately detected by a comparator. Resistor coded switches may have multiple positions that need to be detected and an ADC is appropriate to monitor the different states. Each input of the TIC12400-Q1 can be individually programmed to use either a comparator or an ADC by configuring the appropriate bits in the MODE register depending on the knowledge of the external switch connections. The benefit of using a comparator instead of an ADC to monitor digital switches is its reduced polling time which translates to overall power saving when the device operates in the low-power polling mode.

Comparator input mode is selected by default for all enabled inputs upon device reset.