Customer:
The touchscreen on my Inkplate 4 TEMPERA almost never initializes. I’ve noticed a pattern: after uploading a sketch, I need to wait several minutes before the touchscreen will init, sometimes requiring multiple wake cycles from deep sleep before it responds. The device enters deep sleep for 20-30 seconds, then wakes up, re-initializes everything, and goes back to sleep. After a few of these cycles, the touchscreen eventually initializes. The issue seems tied to the upload process rather than normal power cycling. Developing with the touchscreen is difficult because of these initialization delays.
Originally submitted via email support on 20 May 2025. Migrated to the forum for community visibility.
Soldered Support:
You can try increasing the timeout in the Inkplate library at https://github.com/SolderedElectronics/Inkplate-Arduino-library/blob/master/src/include/TouchElan.cpp#L128. However, this appears to be a hardware-related issue rather than a library problem.
Does your Inkplate 4 TEMPERA have a glass panel? If it’s the version without the glass panel, try placing a thin white film (like a screen protector film) over the Inkplate display - this can improve touchscreen performance. The version with a glass panel calibrates better and may have different initialization behavior.
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Customer:
I increased the timeout to 5000ms with no effect. I also added delays throughout the setup code, but the issue persists. The problem clearly relates to the upload process or something that happens during uploading, not normal shutdown and wake cycles. I have the version without a glass panel and tried adding plastic film over it, though the film I used was probably too thin. I’ve already delivered this product, so I’m unable to test further implementations. If you have other ideas, I’m interested to hear them.
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Soldered Support:
We’ve done more extensive testing with the Inkplate 4 TEMPERA with the glass panel, where touch works more reliably. The version without the glass panel falls into the category of ‘theoretically should be the same according to the datasheet’ but shows practical touchscreen issues that we’ve only noticed recently.
We perform unit tests on the touchscreen during manufacturing, and it’s possible this particular unit’s touchscreen initialized during our test but behaves differently in your application. We’ve also had better results using the touchscreen on battery power, so your device may work better if the end user operates it primarily from the battery.