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Animas vibe battery life

Postleneo

Postleneo

Well-Known Member
Messages
293
Location
West Midlands
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi guys been advised by my DNS that the lithium batteries for the vibe last 3-6 weeks depending if you use the CGM or not. I've had my vibe now for just over 4 weeks and the battery level indicator has not changed?! Does this seem right or could the pump be faulty... would have thought the battery level indicator should have gone down to 2 bars by now.As I'm new to pumping am always switching looking at it etc. Think I should replace batteries now or would I have a few weeks battery life left... Just being cautious. Thanks
 
Hello, I wouldn't be concerned at all. I've been using the Vibe since UK release & the lithium batteries always lasted me around 6 weeks. The vibe battery level indicator will go down eventually. I usually got 1 to 2 weeks further lithium battery use after the level indicator finally dropped.

Animas switched me to the Alkaline Energiser Eco Advanced batteries & I get about the same 6 week usage as the lithium batteries but have to change as soon as the level drops.

Battery use will obviously depend on how much time you spend on your pump. I've always had an Animas insulin pump, 6 years pumping & it's do much better than mdi with a pen!! Good luck with it, it'll change things so much for the better.

Best wishes, Tux
 
teasytux said:
Hello, I wouldn't be concerned at all. I've been using the Vibe since UK release & the lithium batteries always lasted me around 6 weeks. The vibe battery level indicator will go down eventually. I usually got 1 to 2 weeks further lithium battery use after the level indicator finally dropped.

Animas switched me to the Alkaline Energiser Eco Advanced batteries & I get about the same 6 week usage as the lithium batteries but have to change as soon as the level drops.

Battery use will obviously depend on how much time you spend on your pump. I've always had an Animas insulin pump, 6 years pumping & it's do much better than mdi with a pen!! Good luck with it, it'll change things so much for the better.

Best wishes, Tux
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Thanks for the info just out of interest how long on average do you get when the battery low warning notification is received without using the CGM. Again many thanks for the reply.
 
I believe the reason lithium batteries are recommended over alkaline, is the power is constant. That is, it will work at 100% and appear full, but then die very quickly. I think this is a conscious decision by the manufacturer, so that the pump always works at 100%, rather than gradually dying, and losing power for the last part of its life. You don't want the pump to start struggling to dose you at some random point of time! My pump lasts approx. 4 or 5 weeks with CGM, and once one of the 3 power bars disappears, I know it has less than a week to go. As soon as I get the notification the battery is low, I change it immediately, or at the next possible opportunity. HTH, Paul
 
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Another thing to note is there are THREE bars to represent the battery life. If all three bars are showing, don't worry. If there are two bars, you probably have a about a week left before it goes down to one bar. I think most people change the battery around this time when they are next doing a set change. However, if you get down to one bar, you will want to change the battery relatively quickly because the alarm keeps going off. I don't know how long before the power finally fails but, due to some bad planning, I have experienced a couple of hours of one-bar-battery and an alarm.
I usually change my battery with a set change but provided you have a suitable sized coin with you, you can quickly change it any time when you are out and about: I've done it during a conference call.
It's probably obvious to most people but took me a while to spot the diagram on the back of the pump showing which way round to insert your battery.

Short answer - don't worry about the battery llife whilst there are still three bars showing.
 
3 bars - fine
2 bars - change (you have a few days, no real stress)
1 bar you have about 20mins -urgently find any AA battery to replace with.
 
Thanks for your replies guys - as soon as goes down to two bars will change the battery on my next set change - appreciate your advice :)
 
I usually get about 5 days grace when the 2 bars show but this changes to 3 bars, then 2, then 3, then 2 and then down to 1. When 1 bar shows, I then insert a new battery.

On average, I get about 2-3 weeks with lithium but no more than about 10 days with the energiser eco so I suspect that my replacement Vibe will probably need replacing again so not amused that in 3 years I will need 2 replacements.
 
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