Out of range issue

Diabetes Technology Glucose Monitoring
1

For the past 2 weeks, I've been having a real hard time with my Dexcom. If I walked away from it long enough to go out of range just once, then it takes forever to get back to getting numbers. It will continue to say that it is out of range, even though I put in back in my pocket. Usually shutting down and restarting is quicker, though that takes 2 hours and is a pretty annoying hassle just for going out of range for 5 minutes. This has happened for a few sensors now, so I don't think that is contributing to the problem. I'll call Dexcom when they open up again, but I'm curious if others have seen this issue.

Thanks!

2

I have never had my receiver lose communications that long, however I would routinely lose communications when my transmitter reached the 1 year old mark. I stretched my time to about 14-1/2 months and during that time, I would lose communications more than normal. Since I started using a new transmitter/receiver I haven’t lost communications much. Yesterday, I even had communications when I was downstairs and my receiver was upstairs.

3

I also noticed that the range got considerably shorter when I got towards the one year mark. My insurance covered a replacement at that point and the new receiver/transmitter has very good range.

4

My Dex seems to be out of range if my body is between the receiver and the sensor. That is why I cannot put the receiver in my back pocket or on a table by my bed. If I turn in bed and sleep on my side, the sensor is on my ab and the sensor is behind me. I start getting weird numbers sometimes under those circumstances.

5

A little bit of reading, and apparently it could be the transmitter that goes dead after a year. Maybe I’ll just get a second unit if insurance covers that, since mine went through the wash a few months ago and isn’t looking the best (though it was still working well for a while).

6

Andy, here's something else which might help to "bring it back" more quickly:

Even though it is showing "out of range", feed it a calibration figure anyway. For me, this action seems to nearly always provoke recovery at the next 5-minute readout mark. I might be imagining things... but without that finger-poke entry, it seems to miss a lot more data points before realizing that the Sensor and Transmitter have been brought back in range.

But the other BIG trick which I use to make this recovery happen is to sit down at the sofa when I enter the finger-poke reading- with the CHARGER PLUGGED IN. That's probably the real reason behind my "very-next-time" recoveries.

AFAICT, the battery voltage seems to be proportional to a lot of the electrical behavior in the Receiver: For example, the alarm buzzer seems louder when it's actually plugged in. If the VRMs in the radio section are simple proportional circuits (rather than more complicated "regulated power supply" circuits), as I suspect they are... then you can provide more power to the radio by actually plugging it in.

The DC voltage which comes from the charger is quite a bit HIGHER than the maximum voltage which the Receiver's battery will put out while discharging. (That is, whenever it's being used as the power source WITHOUT extra "boost" from the charger.) So, even when the Receiver shows a charge state of "3 bars", you're getting much less voltage from the battery terminals. When the charger is plugged in, of course, the terminals differ by the charger voltage-- a higher figure.

If it exists, then this "extra" radio power at the Receiver end helps in both directions-- it transmits a slightly stronger "Wake up and tell me your reading!" signal to your old, weakened Transmitter, and it helps the Receiver hear the weakened reply.

Plug it in, feed it an extra calibration, and see if that helps.

- - - - -

All other comments are A+, and I agree. Transmitter age is critical, because the battery gets used up. Receiver age is critical, because the battery "wears out" after it's been charged/discharged to many times. And Richard157 is right on the money about Receiver distance-- if the signal path goes through your body tissue, the signal gets reduced 10-20x as much as it gets reduced while spreading out and getting scattered in the same distance of air.


7

Hi Andy,
I call Dex Com any time I can’t get readings! Their ads and manual say they have 24/7 tech support and they do, with knowedgible, friendly reps. Their telephone answering message discourages calling in off hours by saying tech suppport is closed, but sort of as an after thought, offer if you have an “urgent” issue to press whatever menu #. Any time I can’t get readings, its urgent. They have been very helpful the few times I have called.

8

Rick, thanks for the tips. I have been leaving it plugged in more ofter lately and the issue hasn’t happened in that time. I usually only plugged it in before once the battery bar was blinking, and would just leave it in overnight while I slept.

I, too, found that putting in more calibrations seems to help. It’s never a quick fix here, but I anecdotally find that if I do put in more calibrations when it’s ??? or OOR than it would come back sooner.

9

Andy, I’m glad that my suggestions helped. (And I want to thank you for letting other readers know of this.)

10

Yes, BUT …



When I was much younger, working in relatively small computer companies, I experienced many of those 24x7 “urgent support” calls. The pagers were sent home, every day, with the exact same people who needed to come back and work the entire next day, from 8 AM onwards. (There are no “dedicated” off-hours people in a company this small; you’re dragging daytime staffers out of bed.) It’s very likely that their spouses get wakened by your call, too.



Having received many such calls during my career, I’d like to suggest that you check EVERYTHING before making a late-night pager call. (And replace the Sensor as well.) I’d only do that “urgent” pager wake-up if the new Sensor didn’t come up, and it was going to be many, many hours before the office opened. (For example, if my problem occurred on a Saturday.)



They are extremely helpful. In fact, sometimes your page gets sent to the Product Designers, rather than the level-1 support staff. But it’s not a “nice” thing to do, so I’d like to suggest that you try to avoid doing that whenever there’s still an alternative thing (or two) which you can try doing on your own.



Thanks for letting me whine about this, based on events from my own past. :wink:



This support does exist, and you have every right to use it. But please be aware of the hassles for the person receiving the page, and (possibly) his/her family as well.

11

I hear ya. I work with a non-profit that had just two employees until recently, and someone was always on call of those two… usually getting about 5 calls a night (mostly before 10pm thankfully). While answering the phone is all part of the job, and I’d gladly help our members, that doesn’t mean that I particularly enjoyed some of the “are you seriously calling about that at 4am?!” calls. I’d help them nonetheless, and try to sound happy doing it, but if I had a late night, a call at 4am, and had to be at work the next day at 9am, it’s not easy.

Of course, with serious issues, 24/7 is a wonderful feature, but I don’t think there are any serious issues with Dexcom. It’s a auxiliary system, and if it dies for a day, you can just use a regular meter. That’s not worth waking up a small company’s support staff in my opinion.