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xDrip Bgs on my phone

I've been using my xDrip for more than a week now & it seems to track the Dexcom receiver pretty closely.

It's useful that xDrip continues to work when I have to do the 2 hour restart to continue using a sensor. Good for me as I seem to have a disproportionate number of problems during that time! Also the Dexcom treats the sensor as a new one & tends to be more erratic for the first 12 hours or so. The xDrip remembers the calibration data so continues as before.

My sensor has been in for 25 days & I've had a few "???"s on the Dexcom. It was interesting to compare the xDrip which continues to try to make sense of the readings:

Dexcom - no readings from 02:40 to 05:05
xDrip - Bad, very erratic readings from 02:40 to 03:55 then steady readings more than an hour before the Dexcom restarted.

Dexcom also stopped between 05:20 & 05:45 - xDrip had one slightly odd reading but otherwise looks fine.
xDrip lost signal from 05:50 to 06:25, Dexcom fine - xDrip box was downstairs so it may have been a signal problem though it had been OK previously
 
That's really interesting. I hate those sensor gaps and recalibrations.

Now, where are my sensors. They seem to be lost in the post...
 
HI

Am I right in thinking that you take the Dexcom receiver plus the wired gadgets when you go out so that the data transfers to yr mobile?
 
iHs said:
HI

Am I right in thinking that you take the Dexcom receiver plus the wired gadgets when you go out so that the data transfers to yr mobile?
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No. You just need the xDrip box & your mobile - nothing is wired up. The xDrip receives data from the transmitter on your sensor & converts it to Bluetooth which your phione receives.

In practise I carry my Dexcom as well though, the xDrip is experimental.
 
How far from the sensor transmitter do you nèed to keep xBox? Could you keep the xBox stuff in a sunglass case?
 
It'll be the same distance as with the Dexcom receiver. I also suspect that there's some kind of power management on the Dexcom transmitter power, which will affect its battery life.
Slightly off-topic, but does anyone have experience of keeping the Dexcom receiver in a handbag or something 2-3 away to compare transmitter life with folk who keep the receiver inches away?
 
iHs said:
How far from the sensor transmitter do you nèed to keep xBox? Could you keep the xBox stuff in a sunglass case?
Click to expand...
As HaroldC says the xDrip box has a range of about 6 metres similar to the Dexcom.
At the moment I have the xDrip in a plastic box about the same size as a glasses case (see first picture) but it would fit in something much smaller when I find something suitable. I don't think a metal glasses case would work but a plastic one would.

HaroldC I usually have my Dexcom in my pocket. My last transmitter lasted about 13 months. I wouldn't have thought it would make much difference to transmitter battery life though perhaps the receiver battery might need charging more often?
 
DunePlodder, all the protocols are 2-way transmit and receive, even when Decom call it a transmitter or a receiver. The transmitter though has a very limited power supply that can't be replaced, so I'm thinking that ANYTHING we can do to reduce the amount of power it uses would help it's life. If it modifies it's transmit power according to reporting from the receiver, or by monitoring the received power from the receiver, then it might be possible to reduce the transmitter's power requirements by preventing it from having to transmit 6m. Just a thought and if I could pull one apart and look at the chipset I could guess better.
All in good time ;-)
 
HaroldC said:
DunePlodder, all the protocols are 2-way transmit and receive, even when Decom call it a transmitter or a receiver. The transmitter though has a very limited power supply that can't be replaced, so I'm thinking that ANYTHING we can do to reduce the amount of power it uses would help it's life. If it modifies it's transmit power according to reporting from the receiver, or by monitoring the received power from the receiver, then it might be possible to reduce the transmitter's power requirements by preventing it from having to transmit 6m. Just a thought and if I could pull one apart and look at the chipset I could guess better.
All in good time ;-)
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Yes those are interesting thoughts. You mean that the receiver may send an acknowledgement of successfull receipt, thus stopping the transmitter from wasting battery repeating the transmission. If you are right, my xDrip box may well shorten the life of the transmitter & at £330 or so each that's worth considering. You could have a look at the Wixel code & Java Android app code on the xDrip website (If you understand it) to see if it is doing that. I struggle to make sense of it.
A couple of people have actually managed to replace the transmitter battery & I think there are photos which may show the circuit board. I'll try & find it.
 
I think the wireless protocol is Bluetooth, in which case it's definitely 2-way ("duplex") and probably power saving, as I was alluding to. It'll be interesting to see how folk get on with xDrips. My prediction is shortened transmitter life, although I'll be very pleased to be completely wrong.
We're working on the code. It seems sensible. I also need to hack the Accu-chek combo Bluetooth too.
On a different point, the new ultrafast insulins look fantastic. I'm hoping Novo will get theirs out thus year. There's also talk of going to 400u/ml on somebody else's ultrafast insulin. That would be good for me, a 3ml cartridge would last me a month then :-D
 
HaroldC said:
I think the wireless protocol is Bluetooth, in which case it's definitely 2-way ("duplex") and probably power saving, as I was alluding to. It'll be interesting to see how folk get on with xDrips. My prediction is shortened transmitter life, although I'll be very pleased to be completely wrong.
Click to expand...

I tweeted Stephen Black & asked about this. His reply was:
"It just reads the signals that get sent out every 5 minutes no matter what, no impact on battery!"
Yes we need those faster acting insulins as soon as poss.
 
carolynpack said:
very cool. i wonder when someone (you?) will make a phone app to track the cgm?
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xDrip is a combination of the box I built and an Android app which you can see in the photos shown earlier in this thread. It works very well. Stephen Black created it:
http://stephenblackwasalreadytaken.github.io/xDrip/

It also allows you to access the wonderful NightScout project (http://www.nightscout.info/) which means data can be displayed, live, on a web page. Very useful for parents, carers, & partners of diabetics. There are many stories of parents being able to monitor their children's bg s whilst they are away at school, sleepovers etc.
 
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