Dash PDM battery life

Twice now the battery of the Dash PDM has dropped from a healthy charge to 0-1% in a very short time. Yesterday it was at 74% when I went to do some errands. Four hours later it was completely drained. :angry: Is anyone else experiencing this?

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How old is it? Is the battery replaceable?

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Yeah, the Dash PDM has that problem. Is WiFi off? They were pretty good about sending replacements if you’re having battery issues.

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Date says Dec. 2022. I’ll check for replacement online.

Yeah, wi-fi is off and I reduced the screen brightness, too.

I stopped using dash maybe a year and a half ago? My PDM was always going from 90% to like 15 % in a couple of hours most of the time. I did all the things your suggested to do to keep the battery healthy like only leaving it on the charger until 80% charged and turning it off for awhile every day. So I contacted insulet and they sent me a new PDM.

Well … that PDMs battery was even worse than the one I wanted replaced. Lol

Eventually I just started carrying a couple of power banks with me. Plus syringes and a vial of humalog that had like 20 units left.

Im sorry that they have apparently done absolutely nothing to fix this problem. The Omnipod 5 controller does not have this issue.

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Wow - I’m thinking maybe I’ll continue using the Eros pods until I’ve run out of them and see if something else comes along in the nontube type of pump. I know Medtronic had ideas - but got their wrist slapped on “borrowing” certain technology … hmmm … when will they learn.

Anyways, some nice Dash using T1D Americans on my Eastern Loop sail this summer - donated their unused ones - so I’m good to go for at least another year until I figure out what my next insulin pump will be. I’m in Canada, where coverage for technology is hit/miss depending on where you live - so all good in my little world of diabetes that I’ve been living with for almost 60 years!

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I want to get a second (longer) charger cable for the Dash PDM but I don’t know what kind of micro-connector it uses. Advice, please?

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I think this is what you need:

image

This Amazon link give you 3, 6, and 10 foot options. And free returns if it is not right.

But it seems to match from the pictures.

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Basics-Charging-Transfer-Gold-Plated/dp/B07232M876/

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@catlady Its a standard micro-USB plug, the other end is usually a USB-A standard that plugs into a charger supply. However, Insulet cautions people to only use the charger/cable provided with the PDM. That said, as long the charger/cable are from a reputable source (i.e. some charger supplies/cables on head-ons at check-outs of grocery/big box stores are questionable) and is the same charger strength output of volts/amps, it should be fine and not cause any problems. Note: I’m not an electrical engineer and do NOT speak for Insulet; not sure I’d tell Insulet I used a non-Insulet provided charger/cable!

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Not to hijack the thread, but has anyone heard what the EU’s requirement for a common charger type (stipulating USB-C’s oval shape ala Apple iPhone moving to USB-C) is going to do for Dexcom, Insulet, and other PDMS and devices? I don’t recall having seen anything on it.

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As I understand it, the EU mandate is for all new portable consumer devices, so it would not include legacy medical devices. Since Insulets strategy is to use off the shelf hardware, I would imagine any new PDM designs will use USB C, but I doubt they’ll revise the design of existing hardware.

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The information that comes with the Dash PDM also says to keep chargers in other locations (car, office, etc.)! :crazy_face:

Thanks, Eric!

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Let’s add this to the ever-growing list of diabetes rules we break. :joy:

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