Respironics Dreamstation Bluetooth

[Azor]

Sorry if this issue has been addressed previously. I did not find any mention of it using the search feature although I am not sure I understand how that feature really works.

This post is about my experience with the Bluetooth feature of Phillips Respironics Dreamstation and Dreammapper web page. I have had my new Dreamstation for over a month now. I like to see each night's results during the following morning. So I tried the Bluetooth feature which is fine for what it does when it works, but is not a reliable connection. I use an iPhone for my Bluetooth upload. I can sometimes re-establish the connection in the iPhone's Bluetooth display by reconnecting to the Dreamstation. That doen't always work. If I turn off the iPhone Bluetooth and then back on I can reconnect some of the time with that method. This morning I used the "Dish" method of pulling the plug on the Dreamstation, waiting 10 seconds, then plugging it back in and was able to reconnect that way.

I am not sure what all is in play here, but has anyone come up with a longer term solutions to this Bluetooth loss of connection problem?

[chill]

I had exactly the same experience with my DreamStation and iPhone. I don't know which side to blame but I gave up after a couple of weeks. I put a Wifi SD card in my DreamStation and use SleepMaster to transfer the data and SleepyHead to look at how I slept. It is not quite as convenient as the iPhone app should be, but it works 100% reliably and shows more information. But you need a computer not an iPhone.

[eseedhouse]

Th frequencies used by Bluetooth and WiFi are actually in the same band (about 2.5 ghz.) and should have similar transmission characteristics. However whereas WiFi uses fairly broadband channels (up to 25 mhz. wide) and transmits on only one or at most a few of them at a time, Bluetooth uses spread spectrum techniques hopping between as many as 79 1mhz wide channels in the same band. This means the receiver must know how to follow the hops, and if they get out of sync that can cause signal loss. Also they can by happenstance use the same frequencies simultaneously if both are going at once, and this too can cause problems.

[shawn42]

I put a Wifi SD card in my DreamStation and use SleepMaster to transfer the data and SleepyHead to look at how I slept.

Could you share which WiFi SD card you use? Was there any special setup or formatting you had to do to the card to ensure it worked with the DreamStation? Were you able to transfer your pre-existing data onto the new card?

[chill]

Go to sleepmaster.org and click the big, blue button. All of your questions will be answered.

[Jimsp1]

I had exactly the same experience with my DreamStation and iPhone. I don't know which side to blame...

I'd blame the iPhone. I'm using a low end LG phone and have yet to have a connection issue.

[Azor]

Presently I do not have a WiFi SD card in my Dreamstation. Since I qualified to receive the Dreamstation through Medicare it came with a modem which effects the Bluetooth operation in some way. The modem uploads information that my supplier has access to, but it, for the moment, does not update my Dreammapper web pages as does my wife's Resmed Air Sense update her Resmed web page. Medicare requires this information for the purpose of qualifying the end user. I could go on about how Medicare complicates your life, but that is another topic for another day.

The tech support at Phillips had me remove the modem while "repairing" the Bluetooth connection with my iPhone 5s. The Phillips tech support said in their email that they had been having trouble with the current Apple IOS version and their engineers were working on it. There are days I think that it is not good to be part of the beginning stages of some technology since most often the suppliers do not have all the bugs worked out and the early customers get to live through all that.

[menaralf]

Is there a way to transfer the DreamStation data too Sleepyhead or EncorePro via Bluetooth?

[Azor]

Either of those would need a Bluetooth feature and your computer would need to be equipped with Bluetooth functionality.

My computer does not, but I purchased a Bluetooth dongle that works. Now I need Sleepyhead to have the Bluetooth feature. I asked this question previously and was advised that it was not high on the priority list.

If you can substitute a Class 10 Toshiba FlashAir SD card [see reply to this thread] with the SD card that came with the machine and acquired Sleepmaster software [freeware] you might avoid the Bluetooth issue. I am not sure in my case that I can make the substitution due to Medicare qualification requirements.

[Azor]

I have discovered that if I cannot restore my Bluetooth connection with my iPhone 5s I just need to uplug the Dreamstation wait 10 seconds then plug it in. This seems to be the fastest way to restore the connection without going through the much longer process of re-pairing both devices. Unfortunately this means I must wait until my wife gets up to do this. So if I check it before going to bed the night before and it wont connect then I just do the unplugging routine before using it that night and usually the connection holds overnight. It is just inconvenient either way.