The “+” button on my GC3 is registering “phantom” button presses frequently and repetitively even though the button is not being pressed. Here is a video showing the problem. https://photos.app.goo.gl/FVYZBCLNipdXj1h79
It seems to come and go in spurts. Sometimes if happens frequently over a period of time and then it will stop for some period of time. It seems to be an intermittent problem.
I have tried the following with no success.
Cleaned the panel and buttons.
Power cycled the panel; battery and power supply.
Removed and re-inserted the cell module.
Tested the voltage coming from the power supply to confirm 14 volts.
I have had my GC3 for quite some time and it has been working flawlessly. I recently had to replace the cell module a couple months ago and at the same time updated the firmware to 3.1.3.
Unfortunately it seems the contact for this button may have failed. If you know someone with Advanced Electronics experience, they may can open up the panel and clean the inside of the switch or the contacts with alcohol. I highly suggest not doing this if you have no intermediate or Advanced Electronics experience. Personally, I believe the most reasonable thing to try would be to reflash the software to the panel. If this does not work, you are more than likely looking at replacing the panel. This definitely sounds more like a hardware failure. You may wait until Monday when the support team is in the office and see if Jason can reply to this post with any other ideas that he may have.
This doesn’t necessarily strike me as a software thing, but did you first notice this after the firmware upgrade?
One thing you can do to check to make sure there is no debris/dirt under the button: use a small flat head screwdriver to carefully remove the face-plate. See the attached image. The button area on the face plate may also be slightly dented in further than it should be from repeated presses (this may be imperceptible otherwise, but may result in random button activations). Try gently applying pressure to the inner side before replacing the face plate.
I removed the face plate and did not notice any obvious signs of debris. This did lead to some interesting results though.
If I remove the face plate, the problem does not occur.
When I pop the face plate back in, the buttons do not light-up indicating that the button is being pressed as if held down.
If I loosen the face plate on the right-side with the buttons, then the buttons light-up as expected.
The problem seems to be caused by a clearance issue between the touch panel used for the buttons and the face plate. Could the touch panel swell over time (like a battery might swell?). That might explain the problem.
2. When I pop the face plate back in, the buttons do not light-up indicating that the button is being pressed as if held down.
If I loosen the face plate on the right-side with the buttons, then the buttons light-up as expected.
This is what I was referring to in the prior post with the following:
“The button area on the face plate may also be slightly dented in further than it should be from repeated presses (this may be imperceptible otherwise, but may result in random button activations). Try gently applying pressure to the inner side before replacing the face plate.”
I can recreate the same results that you describe. It’s likely due to slight deformation over time, which you can correct with a little pressure. Also try snapping in the left side first, that seems to help keep excess pressure off the button area.
Yes, you are exactly right. That seems to be the problem.
A first attempt at gently pushing out the buttons on the face plate did not seem to work, but I will play with it a bit more later and see what I can do.
A first attempt at gently pushing out the buttons on the face plate did not seem to work, but I will play with it a bit more later and see what I can do.
Ah, yeah it might take a bit of trial and error. I unintentionally caused roughly the same issue reseating the plate the first time, and was able to recreate it pretty consistently. Careful reseating and a little pressure did the trick for ours.
Let us know if you continue to see issues but it is almost certainly a physical issue with the plate, especially if it doesn’t occur with the face plate off.
