diff --git a/views_content/plugins/views/views_content_plugin_display_panel_pane.inc b/views_content/plugins/views/views_content_plugin_display_panel_pane.inc
index bfc77e0..0f2aa98 100644
--- a/views_content/plugins/views/views_content_plugin_display_panel_pane.inc
+++ b/views_content/plugins/views/views_content_plugin_display_panel_pane.inc
@@ -44,15 +44,31 @@ class views_content_plugin_display_panel_pane extends views_plugin_display {
     return $options;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Discover whether the pane configuration has been set.
+   *
+   * @return bool
+   *   True if the pane configuration has been defined (eg using set_pane_conf).
+   *
+   * @see set_pane_conf()
+   */
   function has_pane_conf() {
     return isset($this->has_pane_conf);
   }
 
-  function set_pane_conf($conf = array(), $set_cache = TRUE) {
+  /**
+   * Set the panel configuration.
+   *
+   * @param array $conf
+   *   The pane configuration settings.
+   * @param bool $set_cache
+   *   Unused.
+   */
+  public function set_pane_conf($conf = array(), $set_cache = TRUE) {
+    watchdog('views_display_panel_pane', 'set_pane_conf called', [ 'conf' => $conf], WATCHDOG_WARNING);
     $this->set_option('pane_conf', $conf);
-    $this->view->dom_id = !empty($this->view->dom_id) ? $this->view->dom_id : md5($this->view->name . REQUEST_TIME . rand());
-    if ($set_cache) {
-      cache_set('view_panel_pane_' . $this->view->dom_id, $conf);
+    if (empty($this->view->dom_id)) {
+      $this->view->dom_id = md5($this->view->name . REQUEST_TIME . mt_rand());
     }
     $this->has_pane_conf = TRUE;
   }
@@ -423,16 +439,15 @@ class views_content_plugin_display_panel_pane extends views_plugin_display {
    */
   function pane_process_conf() {
     ctools_include('context');
+
     $conf = $this->get_option('pane_conf');
+    watchdog('views_display_panel_pane', 'pane_process_conf called', [ 'conf' => $conf], WATCHDOG_WARNING);
     if (!$conf) {
-      // See if dom id has been cached and get conf from there.
-      if (!empty($this->view->dom_id) && ($cache = cache_get('view_panel_pane_' . $this->view->dom_id))) {
-        $conf = $cache->data;
-      }
-      if (!$conf) {
-        return;
+      $this->set_option('pane_conf', $conf);
+      if (empty($this->view->dom_id)) {
+        $this->view->dom_id = md5($this->view->name . REQUEST_TIME . mt_rand());
       }
-      $this->set_pane_conf($conf);
+      $this->has_pane_conf = TRUE;
     }
     $contexts = $conf['pane_contexts'];
     $panel_args = $conf['panel_args'];