Well, my son’s pump is 3 years old. I have had trouble with his battery, so they sent me a new battery cap to try. It seemed to help but when my son came home from school, his battery was dead after just 1 day!!! I tried 10 different batteries and they all were “malfunctioning”. I called Minimed and they said they would replace the pump. They wanted to use one carrier to overnight it across the country, but it wouldn’t arrive until 5:00. Well, I suggested another carrier, and I had his pump at 10:30 the next morning - From California to Pennsylvania. (My son was to go to PHiladelphia for a bball game on Friday night and I had to have his pump before he went!!). I was so pleased with the fast response and the willingness to change carriers so the pump would arrive earlier!!! Just wanted to let everyone know how pleased I was sith the service department and the resolution of our problem (with such speed). Nancy
And it helped, that you were pro-active …good on you and on Medtronics
this also happened to my pump, i started pumping summer of 2004 and around january or february of 2008, well i ended up trying 3 battery caps, 16 batteries, and getting a loaner pump from the medtronic specialist that works wit my diabetic doctor. well i ended up using the loaner from around the time my pump went till bout june or soo when my insurance from work kicked in then i was able to get my paradigm 722.
That’s great news! How’s the replacement pump working?
I have always had really good luck dealing with minimed. In 2006 they replaced a pump that was 4 yrs old that had a nasty scratch / cut on the case. They could have charged $500 but they took pity and replaced it straight up for nothing. That $500 bought a cutomer for life.
Rick Phillips
My son’s pump is 1 year 4 mnths old. (Minimed 722) The pump give a battery failed to every 2-3 batteries out of a batch of 4 batteries. Few days back we had to try 6 batteries before the pump accepted one and I tried everyone twice. We only use energizer batteries. I thought its the batteries and was about to contact energizer, but this post let me think it could be the pump. What do you think?
Hey Dave I use of Duracells all the time. I use Energizers also I don’t see much difference is there something really bad about using Duracell that I need to know ?
Be well and be loved
Exact same thing happened to me. My pump had the same battery problem at about 9:00 one night, and I got a new pump at 10 the next morning. It was great.
MiniMed has done research and found that Energizers actually hold charge longer than others. My pump (even w/ CGMS also feeding to the pump) battery last a month or more.
good to know about medtronics, I just went on minimed 722 3 weeks ago and I have been reading about pumps here and some have complaints about medtronics, I am glad to hear some good stuff, I still havent paid for mine yet
Thanks for all of the input. I use whatever battery I have - either duracell or energizer - usually the higher grade one., I did not know there was a preference and they didn’t tell me!! ANyway, We have had the same battery in since Friday and I feel lucky that it is still full strength!!! I think we have been having battery issues for a while but it had gotten progressively worse!!! I have always found them to be helpful when I had questions or problems. I will switch to all energizers - thanks for the tip… Nancy
Call Medtronics, I am sure it is your pump. My one battery has lasted 1 week and it is still at full battery - a miracle considering I was changing them out every day or so and sometimes they came up as a weak battery. (and they were brand new!!!) The fact that they didn’t question me too much about the battery makes me think they have had trouble with this before. Mine was still under warranty and I got the exact same one!!! I will also tell you to go through each pump screen and write down every number and instruction . Especailly all of your basal rates, ratios etc…(unless you can download it on the computer) If your pump shuts down on you,.If your battery dies and you can not replace it, I do not think that you can retrieve all of the info. Plus it makes it easier to program it.
I will also say, the screens are much brighter and easier to read, so I think his pump was slowly fading on us> (He plays soccer and basketball and plays while wearing it - otherwise his numbers skyrocket more than they already do so it has taken quite a beating over the years!!! After all of that, Call Medtronics - I bet it is your pump. Nancy
Thanx you helped me to finaly make up my mind - I’m going to phone them, now
I did not know this. My pump came with Energizers and I am still using those, but good to know!
Well, it is 2 weeks and 2 days and the battery is still going strong. It is at half strength. I have not had a
battery last this long in close to 1 year!!! I had no idea that my pump was malfunctioning with the battery for so long!!! Nancy
I tried Kirkland (Costco) batteries, which Consumer Reports says are just as good as Energizer or and other kind in terms of how long they last in electronic devices, and are significantly cheaper. They gave me problems in a Paradigm 522 - fast battery “failure” (even though a battery tester said they were still good). If you look closely (with a magnifying glass) at the battery cap, the “nipple” on the + end of the battery sticks out between two small strips to make its contact. And if you compare the Energizer with the Kirkland, the “nipple” on the Energizer sticks out a small distance more than the one on the Kirkland. It’s a small difference and insignificant for flashlights, etc., but appears to make a difference on the Paradigm pump. So Energizers are more reliable on the pump. One could ask why MiniMed made the contact so unforgiving of small differences between batteries…
I have had that problem with my pump as well with the battery. They actually overnight me about 4 battery caps so I could change it if it happened again.