Alarms on a Veo

[LittleSue]

I've been trying out the alarm on the Veo I have on loan to check that I'd hear it. They seem so quiet, I worry I'd miss any alarm I wasn't expecting - eg something important like a blocked tube, running low on insulin or a dying battery.

Big, unexpected things happened on the day I set the alarm to go off during work. I ended up walking to a meeting when it was due to sound. Waiting for the meeting to start, I realised the Veo should've alarmed by then. I checked and the screen said "alarm clock" with a time about 10 minutes earlier, while I'd been walking to the meeting with a colleague. Neither of us had heard a thing. Set it again for that evening and found that if you don't respond, the alarm repeats every few minutes. So it must've sounded several times before my meeting, but if I hadn't looked at the screen I wouldn't have known. I doubt it would wake me from sleep.

Is there a way to adjust the volume on a Veo :?: I know how to choose the length of beep (all very short) or make it vibrate, but if I choose vibrate it seems to vibrate for everything (start and end of bolus etc), which will reduce battery life. I'll resort to vibrate if I have to, but a louder beep would be preferable. I can't see anything about adjusting the volume in the manual but I'm sure the DSN said she'd "need it turned right up" because she's a bit deaf. At the initial information meeting about pumps one of the pumps was 'alarming' and it sounded like a mobile phone ring - disappointing to realise that must've been the other type of pump

Maybe I'm worrying about nothing. Does one develop a sixth sense so you always hear your pump - like picking out your own child's cry from a group of kids :?: Or does the Veo use a louder sound if it detects a problem?

 

[Unicornz]

Hi Sue

Sorry can't help you with changing the volume of your alarm. Personally, I've always used the vibration function which I have never missed before. My battery lasts about a month but you can order them from Medtronic at no charge so to be fair I'm not worried about that at all.

Hope someone will come along who might be able to tell you more about changing the volume

 

[Dragonflye]

Hi Sue,

Unfortunately can't help either!!! While I was at home i was worried about how quiet the alarm was and considered changing to vibrate, however 1 month in and I'm nearly onto battery number 3 i decided against it!!!

Strange though that 1 hour ago I was complained at and asked to silence it as the beeping was annoying the person I'm currently sat next to at work!!!!

 

[Unicornz]

Hi Sue,

Unfortunately can't help either!!! While I was at home i was worried about how quiet the alarm was and considered changing to vibrate, however 1 month in and I'm nearly onto battery number 3 i decided against it!!!

Strange though that 1 hour ago I was complained at and asked to silence it as the beeping was annoying the person I'm currently sat next to at work!!!!

That's a lot of batteries! Do you use the industrial ones you can order from Medtronic? Mine last at least 5/6 weeks and I have it on vibrate all the time :shock:

 

[Dragonflye]

Hi, Yes i use the ones from medtronic i thought i was using lots due to the number of times ive been testing my blood

 

[LittleSue]

Dragonflye, do you send your bg readings to your pump wirelessly? I think this uses a lot of power. If the alarm/alert goes off in the night does it wake you?

If I can't adjust the volume, I'll have to use vibrate when out and about and at work. The beeps may be ok at home.

 

[Dragonflye]

Yes i have the contour link machine which auto sends it to the pump, so im rekoning it's this that's using power

A nuclear blast could go off in the middle of the night and the noise wouldnt wake me... :lol: lol unfortunately no the alarm does not wake me, nor does it wake my hubby...

 

[LittleSue]

Not a lot of use as alarms then, are they? Also today the words 'alarm' only appeared the first time it went, after that the screen cleared. Seems daft, you only know it's alarmed when you press a button to do something else, by which time you could be in DKA!

 

[Dragonflye]

it has 1 rather amusing feature... the other day i was sat down watching tv as you do... didnt hear a beeping but all of a sudden felt a strong vibration on my leg... thought i was imagining things... about 5 mins later felt it again... saw my phone was on a table so wasnt that... checked my pump... aparently how i had been sat had pressed 1 of the keys for 3 minutes so it had suspended the pump and hence the vibrating!!!!

 

[LittleSue]

it has 1 rather amusing feature... the other day i was sat down watching tv as you do... didnt hear a beeping but all of a sudden felt a strong vibration on my leg... thought i was imagining things... about 5 mins later felt it again... saw my phone was on a table so wasnt that... checked my pump... aparently how i had been sat had pressed 1 of the keys for 3 minutes so it had suspended the pump and hence the vibrating!!!!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Instead of pathetic beeps, pumps should have annoying voices, to tell you what's happening. Imagine it .... "ow, you're squashing me!"

 

[Dragonflye]

"ow, you're squashing me!"

:lol: :lol: :lol:

That would be awesome

I think I'm personally going to try the vibrate function, it cant be any worse that the non existant alarm

 

[LittleSue]

Found a statement near the back of the manual, that if set to vibrate when an alarm arises (they mean a black circle state eg empty reservoir/no delivery), the pump changes to a tone alarm after 10 mins, then to a 'siren'.

The loan pump hasn't had a reservoir in for nearly a week, but didn't seem bothered and was dutifully counting down the units left when I practiced a bolus, so I took the chance to experiment. Upped the basal and did some massive boluses, so that sometime on Sunday it'd think there was no 'insulin' left.

It behaved almost as expected - vibrated every 5 mins first, then sound and vibrate every 2 mins, then a high-pitched warble with 6x violent vibration every minute or so. Like the noise when you leave the phone off the hook, not exactly loud but piercing. I'd defnitely notice that. Even though I was expecting it, the violent vibrating made me jump every time, and the high-pitched warble would make someone hear it even if I didn't recognise what it was. The cats weren't impressed :lol:

I say almost as expected because although the 'units left' reached zero around 4pm, it only started kicking off about at 9.40pm :!: Hopefully that's cos it's been tweaked to allow giving boluses etc when there's no reservoir.

Somewhat reassured.