I started using dexcom g6 2 months and 2.5 weeks ago. I was hoping to extend my transmitter using the spike app, but the past few days I’ve been getting signal loss errors (about once and hour now) and it’ll last for 5 mins to 45 mins. When the signal reconnects the data fills in. I replaced my sensor and am still getting these errors.
I read on another thread that this could be indicative of a dying transmitter. I’ve restarted my phone and still have these errors. Has anyone had the same experience? I was hoping to get the full 3 months out of the transmitter? Not that a week and a half is a HUGE deal each transmitter but that adds up… are there any ways of preserving the transmitter battery life ? Like idk if I’m checking my dexcom numbers too often and that’s draining the battery?
Hmm… I have it connected to my phone and I connected the receiver when I first got it, but haven’t charged the receiver since (that battery is out, I just checked). Maybe I should charge that up and disconnect it?
And I didn’t even think of dexcom replacing it. I’ll give them a call tonight or tomorrow to see!
Yeah, I am not sure how their bluetooth channel works, but @Thomas has a pretty good handle on it, perhaps he knows. I guess the question would be if you connect the second device does it stop trying to communicate one it can no longer see the reciever.
User Guide.
Note that USA warranty is similar but slight wording differences for other countries.
Two dates of relevance are the SB Date (ie - Ship By Date) from the Transmitter box and the date when the first session was started against this transmitter.
Basically 90 days active is guaranteed assuming it was not left unreasonably long on the shelf. Specifics are obviously in the wording of the warranty.
Sensor cutting out is generally not considered eligible for transmitter replacement under warranty.
Agreed. How often you check your CGM number has nothing to do with the transmitter battery life. The two actions are not related at all.
I think this is not on the transmission model of a cell phone where if the cell phone is not able to communicate with a tower, it increases the power output dramatically and keeps trying and runs the battery down super fast. More likely the G6 is along the lines of with two devices connected, the G6 will burp two data packets out every five minutes. If your two devices happen to be powered on and in range then they will catch the data packets. If not then not. No extra power.
I do not know how the backfill works. I do not think the G6 spits out a 3 hour data dump every five minutes. Complete guesswork based strictly on what seems to be reasonable is after a device gets a data packet from the G6, if the device is missing prior data then the device then sends a data packet back to the G6 transmitter asking if the transmitter has any data from the prior 3 hours. Upon that request, the G6 transmitter then sends either the past 3 hours or more efficiently, the time range as requested by the device based on missing data within that 3 hour period.
F.2 Dexcom Transmitter Limited Warranty
What’s Covered and for How Long?
Dexcom, Inc. (“Dexcom”) provides a limited warranty to the original purchaser (“you” or “Purchaser”) that the
Dexcom G6 transmitter (the “transmitter”) is free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use
(“Limited Warranty”) for the period commencing on the date of first use by the original purchaser (the “Date of
First Use”) and expiring three (3) months thereafter; provided, that, the Date of First use occurs within five (5)
months of the date of shipment (or disbursement) of the transmitter to you (“Warranty Period”).
Note: If you received this transmitter as a replacement for an in-warranty transmitter, the Limited Warranty for
the replacement transmitter shall continue for the remaining Warranty Period on the original transmitter, but
the replacement is not subject to any other warranty.
Sooo I tried calling dexcom technical support, and hit their call back machine that told me they’d call me back in a few hours… this was five hours ago. is this normal? I’m going to try again tomorrow … if my transmitter dies I may just give up and go to Costco and see how that goes
I had a sensor that kept cutting out over the weekend. I called Monday morning at 11am, requested a call back, and they called me at 4pm. I think they might play catch up on voicemails at the end of the day. Hang in there - they should get back to you!
Thanks for the info, @MM2 . Calling at a weird time would probably help me get through their queue way faster!
@TiaG - this was my first time calling their tech support since I’ve been pretty lucky so far with Dex stuff! I assumed when they said a couple hours it really meant a couple hours, and that that would save me the hassle of listening to hold music…
My singal losses have actually gotten better since posting this yesterday, but I would still like to talk to their tech support about the transmitter battery life and preserving it and ways to avoid signal losses (other than restarting the phone, replacing sensor, and making sure the sensor is close enough to the phone).
This is the first time I’ve had more than one period of longer (20 mins +) signal drop in a G6 sensor session (the issue just started in the last 2 days).
This is a sensor that I restarted so I’m on day 15 for this one. When I restarted this sensor it was the first time I got this error message, I wonder if the two are related (I’m not typically a conspiracy theorist )?!?
I agree that it’s odd you received the same error message with a new sensor. Did you check to that the sensor # you entered for the new sensor was definitely different from the one used for the last sensor?
I’ve been taking a pic of the sensor with the sensor # so that it’s stored with the date the sensor was started.
I just got a message on my dexcom app that my transmitter has 3 weeks left of life… so I guess longer than I’d thought a few days ago? I’ve got the flu now I’m going to talk to dexcom when I’ve got the energy for that I think I’ll try Costco or pharmacy delivery to replace this transmitter sooner rather than later
How many minutes was it (best guess) between when you hit STOP SENSOR on the old session(or whatever the option is called) and START SENSOR (or ditto) on the new session?
EDIT: If doing a quick STOP/START, we will run a timer when we hit STOP and ensure a minimum of 10 minutes have passed prior to hitting START to avoid what seems to be a bug that will prevent the starting of a new session under a particular set of circumstances. Although I am not sure on everything required for this potential “bug” to be hit, we seem to be able to avoid it with the minimum 10 minute wait between the STOP and START. This is for a new physical sensor and is not related to a restart of the existing physical sensor.
You should get approximately 3 months and 3 weeks from the transmitter.
The warranty is for 90 days, so there is an extra “grace” period allowed but not warrantied.
The transmitter will not allow a new session to start unless there is enough time remaining on the transmitter clock to allow the new session to run to completion. So, how much time you can squeeze out of the transmitter (assuming no xdrip nor spike) depends on exactly when you start the last session.
That is not required. Sometimes the sensor code from one session to the next is the same code. This still works. Or at least you should EXPECT this to work with no problems. For example we see code 9117 quite frequently. Sometimes back-to-back on different physical sensors.
is this normal? I’m going to try again tomorrow … if my transmitter dies I may just give up and go to Costco and see how that goes
)?!?
I think I’ll try Costco or pharmacy delivery to replace this transmitter sooner rather than later