I typically get low transmitter alerts starting 3 weeks before predicted failure date. It always comes right after insertion.
When that occurs, I typically mark my calendar to change the transmitter in 20days. This works well for me.
After Iāve used the last sensor of the third box, I simply use the new transmitter that comes with the shipment of the next three boxes. I donāt use the old transmitter with new boxes of sensors when they come with a new transmitter. Iāve never had an issue with a transmitter running out of juice before I get my new boxes and transmitter delivered.
Very annoying. You need to carefully write down on a calendar the exact 90 days of the new transmitter your put in. They do give warnings but itās up to you to pay attention to the number of days. I write down on my calendar the exact day that I started a new transmitter and the day it will be up. Donāt even bother using a new sensor if you have less than the allotted 10 days left on the transmitter. I made this mistake enough to know the keep good track.
I just changed my sensor: I get the following message on my phone (which I use as my receiver). It seems that the Tandem X2 is happy as long as my phone is happy.
The transmitter was initialized on Sept 11. So Iām at 98 days right now. This transmitter will continue to inform me and my pump for 108 days in total. Doesnāt everyone get this?
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The OP, @DiabeticEndeavors, isnāt using the Dexcom app, they are using the pump to start new sensors.
@MBW or @Robyn_H, yāall know the nooks and crannies of the Tandem pump pretty well. Can you please look and see if the CGM āLow Transmitter Battery (46T)ā message appears in the Pump History or CGM log on the pump? If the event is logged, is that log available in the Tandem app and/or the website?
So, absolutely every alert youāve ever seen is stored in the pump history. Thereās even more info that you canāt see, but tech support people can. Unfortunately, transmitter status alerts arenāt separated from high/low BG alerts and every other possible CGM alert, so theyāre buried and nearly impossible to find unless you know exactly what date to look for them. Iād have to look through 3+ months of data to find that particular one. I did look back on the day my last transmitter expired and there was a 46, not 46t. Whatever a 46 is, my screen never said anything about the transmitter that day.
I did look at the new Tandem Source interface, and I donāt see this info anywhere on there. Iām actually pretty surprised, seems like thereās less info than there was before on the T:connect web application. For instance, I used to look at that to see my hourly basal rates actually delivered vs what I had programmed, and I donāt see that option anymore either.
Im just amazed that they cant tell me when the transmitter is expired before I put in a new sensor.
X # days has gone by, it is expired. Easy, done. No questions. Why do I put on a new sensor to get these errors after the fact? Design flaw IMO.
My most recent sensor change, a couple of days ago, i noticed an āinvalid transmitterā error on my tandem. Id never experienced it before to my recollectionā¦
The strangest thing of it all was, when I got my phone to utilize the Dexcom app and input the new sensor ID on the Dexcom app(having initialized the sensor on my Tandem as i always do originally), it magically cleared all errors/invalid transmitter notes that were on my Tandemā¦
Seems like there is a serious disconnect between how they (Tandem and Dexcom) share the data and the data protocols for expired transmitters & sensors. I wish it were simpler rather than more difficult but it doesnt seem to be the case from my experiences and others here as well.
Many note just keeping internal notes or alerts on their own accord, but it should automated to make our lives as simple and easy as possible in my opinion. I dont want to have to worry about having an issue with my sensor/transmitter pairing and being forced to take actions to ensure it when it could be remedied by proper and better design.
I donāt think you will find Tandem giving any attention to your problem because this problem goes away with G7 where the transmitter is built into the sensor. But I agree that Tandem should have had the same transmitter warning as the phone app.
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Thank you for looking Robyn. I had found the 46T error code in this version of the t:slim X2 manual on page 269. It also says low transmitter battery alerts are displayed when there are 21, 14, and 7 days of
transmitter battery life remaining.
@DiabeticEndeavors let us know how it goes reporting this to Tandem.
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I exclusively use my phone to review alerts and glucose trends and when to replace sensors and transmitters. In āsettingsā if you check the transmitter, it will say āactivated onā X date. In my case, it was September 11. So I know that Iāve got one more session after December 11 before it refuses to work. I changed my sensor on December 18 and donāt expect it will let me start another sensor with the old transmitter next week.
It seems that the phone app controlling the Dexcom gives more flexibility and control than using the tandem pump does.