Just wondered if anyone noticed some real inconsistencies with the battery life on my ping. Toward the end of the battery life, it will bounce from 3 bars to 1 for days. Usually it will go from 3, hit two for a couple of hours, and then to 1 with low battery warnings. The next day it is back to 3, then one in the evening. I never really know when it is ready to give out, and I hate to waste any battery life. I read in the book that you have 30 minutes, when it warns you of a low battery, but mine will alarm for days off and on, and it never seems to want to hang around 2 bars at all. Weird. Anyone else see this?
Yea I had that for a while, I just replace the batteries a few days after the first warnings and save them for remote controls or other devices. I use the lithiums, and consistently get over 3 weeks life out of them. Early on, I used the batteries at the low setting for almost a week, and despite the nuisance of the warning all the time, the last day the insulin delivery seemed to be off, and my BG was quite hi. But all in all I get 3-4 weeks before I switch them, and it’s pretty consistent. I can’t really blame them for being over aggressive with the lo battery warning, if that is in fact what’s happening. Hope that helps!
The chemistry of lithium batteries is such that when they start to fail, they fail fairly quickly. Heed the warnings and when the alarm goes off, replace it. I keep my timeout set to 30 seconds and consistently get 3-4 weeks per battery. Keep a spare with your meter so you’ll not have an emergency.
wow thanks i guess thats why i joined this group and web site ,i had this problem and was gonna take the batteries back with the receipt and ■■■■■ but i see now it was the type ,thanks so much
Thanx Guys!
I have my pump time out at 30 seconds too, and am getting about the same lithium battery life, and I do keep an extra battery on hand. It just bugs me that at around week 4 it bounces around from low to normal with no real consistency. It still works, but it is drains my meter battery too, since it is constantly alarming as well. I guess I just expect it too progress to a low-dead battery with some straight steady decline. I wondered if maybe something was wrong with my pump. I’ll probably start replacing them and saving them for remotes too (great suggestion!).It’s just that these days with health care costs along with higher prices everywhere, I’m getting very stingy!
There may be other ways to conserve battery life:
I have the timeout set to 15 sec, and the contrast at 1. ( Even then, I cannot find the strength within to resist using my pump as a flashlight in those late night trips to the bathroom.) In our house we joke that the Ping is my $5,000 flashlight!
If you were to turn off the wireless communication between the pump and the remote, and manually enter your boluses, this may also prolong the battery life, although I cannot say with confidence how long this would prolong it, or if it would even make sense to do so, since the remote functionality is one of the reasons why we use the Ping in the first place.
It seems more likely that the 3-4 weeks of battery life is something that we have to accept as part of the cost of treating our disease with this system, which is, in many ways, one of the best that there is, in my opinion. 
Also depending upon your insurance, I think the batteries may be covered. Good luck, and be well…