I’m currently using the G5 (I’m on Medicare). I run xDrip+ on my phone and the Dexcom receiver (I’m retired with plenty of time on my hands).
XDrip+ does not recognize that the sensor is expired, it just keeps going. The strange thing is the Dexcom receiver is doing the same thing, except with a 2 hour warm-up!
The receiver told me my sensor session was over, so I just tried the “start sensor” button and it went
into the warm up. Two hours later it asked for double calibration and I gave it two readings. It has been giving readings for 7 days+24 hours!
No microwave or Faraday bag involved. The receiver was in my shirt pocket the whole time.
This makes me rethink the communication between devices.
I don’t see the relevance of a microwave / Faraday bag to your scenario, because XDrip+ is showing it’s estimate of BG from the raw sensor data which is always broadcast, not the BG value calculated by the transmitter (and turned off after expiration until after the 2-hour warmup).
The purpose of the microwave technique is to have one Dex receiver doing the 2-hour warmup countdown without the transmitter knowing about it, and before the sensor expires, so the transmitter doesn’t turn off it’s broadcast of calculated BG value that the Dex app on the phone is receiving.
@bkh But the point is that the sensor started over again for the Dexcom receiver. I thought the receiver would give me some kind of “sensor expired, install new sensor” message. The sensor is over 7 days old.
That is indeed strange. On the G5 I don’t think we witnessed any spontaneous resetting. We actually had to restart the sensor using the phone or the receiver. Doesn’t make sense to me that the Xdrip+ app talked to the reciever. Interesting. Perhaps this is like when you restarted a session using the phone (which Xdrip+ did automatically).
The G5 is easy to restart (as is the G4). Just tell it to restart and it will happily do so.
With the G6 it’s not so easy. That’s because the FDA rules for iCGM require that the manufacturer take measures to prevent restarts, and Dexcom did so. Fortunately for us, the hackers found ways around those measures for the current version of the G6, using bugs/loopholes in the measures that Dexcom coded to prevent restarts.
@jag1 I did switch to the G6, and I was quite impressed with it’s accuracy. But Medicare does not cover the G6 ( or I should say Dexcom does not have a billing number for it yet). So they are only providing the G5 to Medicare patients.
I just cannot justify the $700/mo for the G6 when the G5 is essentially free.
Dexcom did say they would start shipping the G6 to Medicare patients in the fourth quarter of this year.
I think Dexcom indicated they would switch over Medicare users when your current G5 transmitter ends, so it will be staggered instead of everyone at once.