Inkplate 10 touchpads detecting false touches after time

TECHNICAL SUPPORT Inkplate
1

Customer:

The touchpads on my Inkplate 10 are causing problems. Discharging them (unplugging and touching the ESP shield to the touchbutton pins by hand) helps for a few hours, but then the touchpads go wild, detecting touches when nothing is being touched. I’ve already changed the copper tape, tried without the case, and other troubleshooting, but the problem returns after some time. Is there a workaround or fix available?

Originally submitted via email support on 4 June 2023. Migrated to the forum for community visibility.

2

Soldered Support:

Touchpads work by measuring the capacitance of the pad and detecting when it changes to identify a touch. The problem you’re experiencing is a change in capacitance. If you have a problem with all touchpads, then something external is triggering the detection, such as radiation or an electric field.

Instead of using the touchpads, the best option is to add physical pushbuttons to the board.

3

Customer:

I have a problem with all touchpads. Running the Touchpad-Example shows a 0, -1, 0, +1, 0, etc., so it looks like all buttons are being “touched”. If I discharge them, it works quite well but after some time they behave the same strange way.

Wasn’t there someone who made a replacement PCB with physical buttons? I’m not skilled at soldering, so I bought this complete solution, but the forum isn’t working anymore. Any guidance on this?

4

Customer:

Could the solution from Inkplate_Wake_Up_On_Touchpads Doesn't Work on 6COLOR · Issue #179 · SolderedElectronics/Inkplate-Arduino-library · GitHub help with my touchpads on the Inkplate 10 as well?

5

Soldered Support:

That resistor only helps for Inkplate 6COLOR. For Inkplate 10, that resistor is already on the board and doesn’t need an additional resistor.

Can you send a photo of your board so I can see which version of the Inkplate board you have?

6

Soldered Support:

If you want to add buttons, you can solder them to the jumpers which are marked as “touch pads”. Remove all solder and connect your button to the middle pin of the jumper. Be careful not to heat the board too much because you can damage the e-paper panel.

Alternatively, you can use any other pin from the GPIO expander to connect the button, which is a better option.

Attachment omitted in migration: ink10.jpg