This morning I experienced my first "PDM Error." Anyone know why this happened? I called Insulet and the rep was incredibly helpful, I was able to get the PDM reset no problem, and they are replacing the pod I was wearing. I am no stranger to pod errors, but this is a new one to me. Any thoughts?
It happens when the battery in the PDM gets too low. It's happened to me twice. Thought I learned my lesson the first time, but I guess not. :-) Change your battery before you think it needs it! haha
I can reiterate what Melanie said. I've experienced the same problem related to battery level & not using Energizer Max batteries as recommended.
Seriously?! Well that is good to know! The Insulet person didn't even tell me to change the batteries, I just noticed they were low during this whole fiasco. Lesson learned. :) Thanks!
Not sure if it has to always do with the battery. With our pod error the batteries were fresh (two days old) and the pdm was just sitting on the end table when it screeched about having an error. Was ticked because when I called to report it I asked the rep if the pod was still delivering the basal. She told me no which caused a middle of the night pod change. Came to find out that the pdm error does not mean that the pod stops delivering the basal, it is just that you are not able to do corrections and Bolus.
On the old PDM, I had the batteries die, and the PDM reset itself when I put new ones in. Insulet said that should never happen and sent me a new PDM right away. I don’t see why dead batteries would cause the PDM to fail or for the pod to lose permanent communication with the PDM, unless maybe it dies somewhere in the middle of a bolus or pod change session (just guess on that one). I thought there was some kind of onboard charge that kept the settings in tact until new batteries go in. Thats why you can change batteries anytime, not wait until you are doing a pod change to change them. I have not had any PDM failures with the new one yet in over two years.
This happened while I was sleeping, so the PDM was doing nothing other than delivering the basal rate. My batteries were low but definitely not dead, since the PDM did turn on and work just fine after the reset (I checked my blood sugar prior to pod change, at which time I then put in new batteries). I'd just love to know why it happened in the first place!
I let my battery go to zero all the time. Seems like there might be another reason.
Electronics... Can't live with them, can't live without them. :)
I've always wondered a bit about the quality of the PDM. Doesn't seem very high quality to me. I'm sure it's within a needed standard, but there are a dozen reasons why this device could fail. Most of them due to design/build quality.
I wouldn’t say its made poorly or with poor quality parts. I’ve dropped mine numerous times onto the floor, and it’s still in one piece with no sign of distress. Butt ugly? Yes. 1990’s look and feal? Absolutely. Almost embarassing to pull it out alongside my other technology, but I wouldn’t say it’s a poor quality device.
I’ve had a pdm failure happen once, when I disconnected the pdm from the cable after downloading data to my PC. That is the only failure of any kind I’ve had so far with either the pdm or a pod in three months+ of use, so happy camper overall. Insulet customer service was great about helping get it reset and running and promised a replacement pod for the one I was using that was only a couple of hours into its three day run. But, a replacement pod has not shown up yet…