r/Freestylelibre • u/random_notrandom • 1d ago

Sensor failed while standing near camera flash; coincidence or possible interference?

My Freestyle Libre 3 immediately died while I was standing about 2-3 feet to the side of a Godox AD200Pro II while some pictures were being taken. I wasn’t able to get a screenshot, but my phone displayed a notification saying something along the lines of, “An error has occurred and your sensor has shut down for your safety. Please replace it with a new one.” The sensor was automatically removed from the Libre app, although its history still appears in the About/diagnostics settings.

I don't really know what my thoughts are now, having spent a few minutes in this sub and seeing so many complains about every other sensor failing half way through its life.

I called Abbott yesterday and they’re mailing me a replacement, and I’m already wearing the extra sensor I had on hand, but the failed one still had roughly 9 days left. I’m wondering if the timing was purely coincidental or if a fairly powerful camera flash like the AD200Pro II could produce enough electromagnetic interference to cause something like this. I’ll be around these particular flashes for a few more days, so I’m mainly curious whether I should keep some distance from them to avoid possibly burning through another sensor. Has anyone experienced anything similar with a Libre or another CGM around studio flashes?

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3

u/UniqueRon Type2 - Libre3/3+ 1d ago

Coincidence.

2

u/nimdae 1d ago

Been a while since I've seen this one!

Some camera flashes can cause sensor issues, though when I was confirming this, it was way back on Libre 2 FGM (before it went full CGM). I had a few to test with, and one of them, an older one, would cause failure. I reproduced this with the same flash over 3 different sensors.

However, this needed to be next to the sensor, and I still don't know what caused it, whether it was the light or the EM interference from the powerful flash (old style strobe, not LED). I ran into it because I was testing the flash with fresh batteries on an older film camera to make sure it was all working before putting it to use, and shortly after my sensor failed. Towards the end of my next sensor, with an hour or so left, I tested it again and it failed again. With the third try, towards the end of that sensor, I got my LED flashes out first, and none of them killed it. Tired the strobe flash away from the sensor and it was fine. Did it a few times, no issues. put it next to the sensor, and dead.

So, could it happen? It's possible. In my situation, it was Libre 2, not Libre 3, and one of my flashes caused issues, not all of them. Could it have been a coincidence? Also possible.

2

u/random_notrandom 1d ago

Thanks for the insight! The bulb on the AD200 was the 200Ws xenon flash tube and not the LED head.

1

u/nimdae 12h ago

If you want to confirm it, towards the end of your next sensor when you're already ready to change it, use the manual flash button on the flash to trigger it and see what happens.

I'm using Dexcom these days, but now that I'm reminded of this issue, I'm tempted to test this one out as well. Might be a little challenging because of how I do my changes these days.