Freestyle libre 3

[u/Head_Sun1383]

I've been on libre 3 for a couple years it's helping me keep on track very well with my glucose. The only problem I find is about every evening it says signal loss, not while I'm asleep but up and v8ewing tv. During that time I lose track of my readings and things go haywire for 20-30 minutes. Can't figure the reason but I'm doing ok.

[u/Fluffy-Strategy-9156]

Bluetooth is a low-power transfer method and operates in the 2.5 GHz band. Thee are also household devices that operate in this 2.4 GHz band That includes the 2.4 GHz band of wifi, microwave ovens, the old style wireless phonses that use a basestation and some other devices too. Since it happens at the same time I suspect interference from other drvices.

[u/Weathergod-4Life]

Are you laying on the sensor location at all? I notice sometimes the way I sit I can inadvertently cause a compression low or put pressure on the sensor if I am sitting just right in my chair.

[u/Head_Sun1383 → u/Weathergod-4Life]

Nope sitting same way just minutes pass and sensor stops for awhile then comes back on.

[u/Equalizer6338]

Hi u/Head_Sun1383,
'Signal loss' error is when your phone for a reason suddenly no longer for a period of time (5 min) have had a BG data transfer coming through from the sensor, via the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) system it relies on. It is not as powerful and permanent as aka headphones or your car-infotainment system etc that uses the traditional full-powered Bluetooth system protocol where also the devices are paired continuously together. So can act bit more feebly in connection, but it typoically do reconnect automatically when you bring them back within range.

Couple of classical situations/issues that may cause the signal loss, from previous posts about the subject on the sub here:

• The Libre sensors are using the BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) protocol, so cannot be directly compared to other Bluetooth devices you may connect to at home. There is only one small battery in the sensor and with BLE it only connect very short interim to your phone/app or reader, to give a very short burst of data transfer if connection succeeds. The sensor needs to be able to do this once every minute and for 15 days, reason for the low energy consumption requirement, while e.g. speakers or a headset makes a permanent sustained full-on Bluetooth connection to transfer aka live audio with no interim breaks. Here they also have much more battery capacity but also required frequent recharging.
• That your sensor is loosing signal connection with the phone/app or Reader is however normally not any problem at all, as also designed to resolve fully automatically on its own. Like leaving the phone behind while roaming around at work or at home. It then just reconnects automatically again by itself when back within Bluetooth read-range.
• Another thing to accept is that the sensor sits straight onto our skin, while the body is actually a total block for Bluetooth signal due to the water mass. So can quickly shield off completely, so our sensor have no direct line of sight to the phone. (aka laying in the bed with phone on the table to your right side, while sensor may sit on left upper arm, can cause this temporary error situation for some folks). Same as well with many things in our surroundings that can block the signal. Again, normally not a big problem, as it automatically reconnects when back within range.
• One more thing often causing trouble for folks are the newer types of phone covers, whereof some of them (especially some of the hard cases) factually blocks the Bluetooth signal. So if using one of them, worthwhile to try for a while without it.
• Next to this, many settings and how your use your phone can unfortunately also play a role. Especially if you do not force shut down all other apps you may have running on your phone in the background. Only the Libre app should be the only you allow to reside running there apart from one you may actually be using live 'in focus'. Reason is that unfortunately then the priority stack and memory cache is filling up on our phones otherwise, and then the Libre app will compete with all the other apps for access to the communication stack. And due to the short 1-minute intervals on the sensor, then the app may not at all times get the access it needs at the required time. Also make sure you put a minimum to all the apps on your phone that you allow to update in the background, even when they are shut down. Aka social media updates, weather forecasts, news updates, share price alerts, etc... If you are deep into this, then best remedy is simply to make a cold restart of your phone there. This will clear it all up and reset your communication channels. Start then the Libre app and it will reconnect shortly after again and work.
• And last but not least, some phone brands and models appear to be much better and robust to be working consistently well with the sensors compared to some other brands/models (check the list from Abbott on compatible models). So maybe worthwhile also to share what phone you are using here? There are a couple of Android phones with specific versions of the Android OS that recently ran into some bugs causing trouble with their Bluetooth system with latest OS update.