Hi guys,
I’ve been getting faulty readings with my G6 recently. I recently did a battery replacement on my old 80XXXX transmitter. It connects and works fine, but I’m wondering if something is wonky with the transmitter thus giving faulty readings to my pump.
Is it basically if transmitter connects fine, it should work fine?
Anyone experienced this? Has anyone put in a new transmitter with the same sensor and it started working normally? I don’t want to put in a new transmitter for nothing.
You really can’t change it now if you started a new transmitter. At least not if it’s one of the newer ones you can’t change the battery in. The transmitters exist in a sleep state to preserve the battery, until you start it, then it is permanently stuck in full power drain mode transmitting every five minutes. You can’t put it back into the sleep state to preserve it. It’s a ticking time bomb now.
I’m sorry, I don’t know the true answer to your question, but Dexcom reps are trained to tell us that everything is a sensor problem, unless the system actually gives you a transmitter error code. I’ve had 2 actually bad transmitters since 2019, and they’ve both been an all out nightmare to get someone to admit there was a problem and replace the transmitter instead of just sending me replacement sensors every day. Both times took more than a month to get the replacement. Lo and behold, smooth sailing with the replacement transmitters… So they absolutely can be bad.
It’s also possible you may have damaged something in the battery replacement process. The whole system is kinda based on electrical conduction from sensor wire to the brains of the operation. It basically reads how much energy is generated by the enzyme reaction, so if you impair the energy flow in any way, it makes sense that you would see problems.
I would think that you could calibrate away the issue, but not if you are using the cal code when you started it.
Now that you started using a new transmitter, you should keep using it. It will time out in 3 months wether you use it or not, may as well use the one that is working.
This is all a moot point after the g7 comes out. They will stop making the g6 transmitters soon after that.
Does anyone know when the G7 will be available?
All I can say is WOW! A G6 transmitter serial number starting with 80 must be at least 3 years old now!
At some point there’ll likely be some sort of untested protocol revision obsolescence. Like if pump manufacturer is testing a new pump against G6 transmitters there will be no way for them to say they tested against an 80 serial transmitter because there is no way to officially test that combination.
It may already exist.
Tandem and Dexcom very recently revised their customer service agreement. It used to be we called Tandem for most sensor issues, unless it was something “physical”, like a stuck applicator or the sensor just fell off. But now we’re supposed to talk to Dexcom directly, except for 2 situations: Invalid Transmitter ID (Alert 29) on pump only, or loss of connection on pump only
It got me wondering what “invalid transmitter ID” could be. That sure sounds like a hardware problem, which Dexcom should be responsible for. But since it’s not, I assume it’s something a lot closer to “you can’t use that particular transmitter with this system anymore.”
It could also be that the next software update contains some new transmitter validation protocols.
@Marilyn6 – The last I heard, the G7 was due to be released in Europe/UK near the end of 2021. I suspect that is likely pushed out to the first quarter of 2022.
I believe the G7 rollout in the US was intended to be made following the European introduction. Interviews of Dexcom senior management this year provided typical non-committal responses to timelines. They have to be careful what they say to the public during this sensitive time pending FDA approval.
@Timothy – Depends what you mean by “soon.” In the past, Dexcom supported older generations for a few years after they introduced new systems. I used the G4 for over a year after the G6 was introduced.
I stopped following the latest news and rumors from Dexcom about the G7 when they admitted that it will be no better than the G6 for low BMI individuals and the acknowledged low BMI issue is only on their bucket list to be addressed sometime in the future.
Just an FYI to all, I corrected my initial post. I did NOT start a new transmitter, it was meant as a question which has now been revised. I know that once they are started they cannot be stopped.
Yes, it is an old transmitter. But I keep using it because it is one of the transmitters that can have its internal timer reset after a battery reset. One of the very few G6 transmitters that has that capability. They “fixed” that soon after.
I replaced the battery in it today, and redid the epoxy to hopefully better seal. I think water might have been getting into the transmitter somehow before. I will update in a few days if that fixed it. I am still on the same sensor.
I was reading that the new tandem pumps have to be tested for both the g6 and g7 because the software is different.
Seems to me that means they will soon make pumps that wont support the g6.
Pumps that support the g6 might be golden later on.