disappointed in airsense 11 after 12 years with S9

[Rejackson]

Replaced my Resmed S9 withe their Airsense 11 because the S9 had been telling me the motor was past expected life for about a year now.  Its only been 4 nights but long enough to identify some design flaws.  The humidity tank is almost dry every day with just 6 hours of sleep. I expect to need it longer when I adapt the to mask and get 8 hours. 1) Tank too small.

The cell network for uploading data only has one bar.  Tried it all over the house to see if it was something about my bedroom.  Still one bar.  They are using TMobile. I have AT&T and my phone gets 4 bars. No data upload for the first three days.  Finally last night's data was sent.  First it said usage was 4 hours.  Couple of hours later it said 7.  I have an SD card in it (not provided) and Oscar agrees with the 7 hours. I cannot tell if it keeps multiple days of data but the first three days are still missing.  I have to talk with my provider and see if they can change the cell network it uses. 2) Unreliable upload will hurt my Medicare compliance requirement of 4 hours a night.  Should be a LAN wireless option.  I know the cell is provided for people who do not have Internet wireless but it should be a last resort.

The screen is very dim even with the lights on.  The only thing i can do to make is visible is stand a flashlight on the sensor on top of the device. I do not have a bedside light. 3) Screen dimming should only happen when the lights are out or after an idle period.  Bright should be the default when using the user interface.

Machine slams me with pressure every 30-60 seconds for the first 10 minutes after starting it.  Seems to be happening if I transition from mouth to nose breathing.  It is not restarting and is lasts longer than the ramp up time.  

Whine whine, I know.  Change is hard.  But I came here because I am not sure about my tech that gave me the device.  He said the humidity should be set to match the room humidity.  For high room humidity then set the humidity higher!!!!  Automode is on so that doesn't matter but.....

Thanks for listening, please let me know if you know solutions for any of these issues.

RJ

[DaveL]

Welcome to the forum.

I changed from an S9E to an S10 autosens for her not long before the S11 came out.

The transition was hard, but made possible with lots of help here. I don't have the skill to help you....but others here do.

My take, and it's only my opinion.
* it's hard to find a good sleep doc. I've had 3 in 35 years. Here's it's by referral, and I don't get a say. (Canada--Ontario.)
* I need a system that I can manage. I can manage my S10 "for her", but I don't have the skill to do that.
* I need lots of help, and I feel I'm a burden here.

As far as equipment goes....my opinion
* I'm sure glad I don't have a Respironic! Owners can't read the card in the unit. Frankly I would sell my machine for scrap if I couldn't adjust it myself.
* My humidifier is too small; I added a humidifier on my furnace, and that's helped a lot. Expensive!
* I use ResMed N20's. I make sure I have a spare. Finding a good mask is HARD. I have a second mask--ResMed N30i. I won't buy another.
* I use a heated hose; I have a hose-blanket on it. Prevents rainout, or condensation in the hose and mask in winter.
* I bought a simple blood oxygen sensor from the big A store. I've used it enough to know that my blood oxygen level isn't so low it's dangerous for me.
* I bought an Apple watch to give me sleep reports. Jury is out on whether that is a good buy. I would consider a Fitbit watch next time.

Essential for me!
* Membership here! I learn so much from the wonderful people here. However, I've posted so much....
* OSCAR! essential!

A thought...
* I wish improved wellness for everyone!
* I wish wonderful sleep for everyone too. And that's hard.
* Finally...Whoever designs sleep apnea equipment should have to use it for the rest of their life. Maybe they would do better.

[DaveL]

PS You're not whining! I started to feel better with OSA after I did 3 things.
* I asked for help
* I learned that I needed to listen
* I use OSCAR; it's essential. I can see when things have gone to H*ll in a handbasket with my treatment. Then I can ask/make changes that fix it.

Dave
Ontario Canada

[MoreBeers]

In terms of the Hours used issue, I wonder if there is a Time setting that is not set to the correct Time Zone or Local Time?

By that I mean if it thinks you are in a different Time Zone or at a different Local Time, then it may be starting and ending the daily logs split over two days, so 3 Hours in last day, and 4 hours in the next day, total use 7 Hours but split over two days because of the Zone/Time it thinks it is in?

OSCAR seems not to be affected, so it may not be that. But it may be worth double checking that the Time and Date has been set correctly, or that it doesn't have a time fault of some sort?

So check it again the next day as well, to make sure it has not lost the setting.

I know on my S10 if I have a late night and end up sleeping past 12 Noon, that's a PITA as it strays into the next day's log and I cannot then see my AHI without extracting the SD Card and running it through OSCAR. So I only see the AHI for the time I was asleep after 12 Noon, not what I did before 12 Noon.

MoreBeers

[Dog Slobber]

The S9 h5i humidifier and Air 11 are the same size, 380 ml. If you're going through more water on your Air 11, the likely cause is you are providing more humidity.

Unfortunately the h5i humidity settings (0-6) and Air 11's (0-8), use different scales so aren't easily comparable. Try stepping down your humidity setting on the Air 11. You may find you simply don't need it as high as it's set.

Having only one bar, is not a big deal, the amount of data uploaded is not a lot (no deltail data). After signing up for MyAir, it takes a couple or three days to start receiving MyAir data. My AirData has nothing to do with the data received for compliance or ResMed AirView usage. Your initial  lack of MyAir reports is not indicative of unreliable device upload. 

And no, your DME cannot change the cell provider.

Your tech was wrong about matching a high humidity setting for a humid environment.

If there's a lot of moisture in the air , why would one have to add more???

[tonygill99]

Hi -- I'm also finding that the Resmed AirSense 11 does a MUCH worse job with humidity control than my old Series 9 Elite -- especially after the long, dry spell of weather we just had (and like the OP, I was upgraded due to the old S9's motor reaching the end of its service life).

The 'Auto' setting is just awful -- I consistently wake up with a dry, parched throat, so I've been using the manual settings for humidity and tube temp -- but it's a process of trial and error, and has been a challenge to find optimal settings.

Last night, for example, I used Humidity 6 and Tube Temp 86 deg F, and experienced BOTH minor dry mouth AND some minor condensation 'rain-out'. Setting the Humidity to 7 as an experiment earlier this week was a disaster -- massive rain-out, AND the tank ran dry prematurely.

So, I'm experimenting with different combinations, but if anyone has any tips or recommendations to speed up the process of finding the optimal settings, I'd love to hear them!

I'd also love to know why the "Auto" humidity setting doesn't seem to work on the Airsense 11! I never had this problem with the S9 Elite.