HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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Pugsy
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Re: HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

Post by Pugsy » Fri May 27, 2022 4:05 pm

karne21 wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 3:43 pm
I was surprised to see this comment someone made earlier here:
"Contacted HDM and received a “no longer in warranty, parts unavailable” reply along with an option to buy a refurbished Z2 for $195 w/a 6-month warranty. "
When I contacted them today, they quoted a price of $295 for a Z2Auto!!!! Maybe the price difference is for the "auto" function, FWIW.
With all brands of cpap machines the model that only offers a fixed pressure is usually less expensive and the model that has both fixed mode AND auto adjusting mode is going to cost more. Perhaps the 195 model was fixed pressure only....or perhaps the manufacturer has simply increased the price in general. What with what has happened since the Philips Respironics recall and prices of all machines...everything is more expensive.

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Aldimann
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Re: HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

Post by Aldimann » Thu Jun 02, 2022 12:11 pm

karne21 wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 3:43 pm
I was surprised to see this comment someone made earlier here:
"Contacted HDM and received a “no longer in warranty, parts unavailable” reply along with an option to buy a refurbished Z2 for $195 w/a 6-month warranty. "
When I contacted them today, they quoted a price of $295 for a Z2Auto!!!! Maybe the price difference is for the "auto" function, FWIW.
I wrote them an email a while ago but didn't get any reply.
Could you share any contact information or link a page where I could find the contact data you used?

Thanks in advance!

MrJimmy
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Re: HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

Post by MrJimmy » Thu Jun 16, 2022 6:51 am

Z1 cpap about 6-7 years old (lightly used) with new error 33. I tried replacing the pressure sensor with a new MPXV5004GC6U as mentioned in other posts. The new sensor soldered in and fit fine. Unfortunately no luck as error 33 continued to appear.

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Chilehead
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Re: HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

Post by Chilehead » Mon Jun 27, 2022 5:59 pm

I generally don't use my Z1 very often, except when I'm travelling on an airplane where I want to minimize my belongings, or when I'm gone just a few nights. I'll usually pack up my regular CPAP as I find it works better than the Z1, but the Z1 size is really great.

I was on a weekend away geocaching and visiting breweries, and brought my Z1 which I haven't used in at least 6 months. Got to a hotel, set it up, and Error 33. Oh damn. I do have a dental appliance I got over-the-counter that I use even less, and fortunately I packed that. I don't like it nearly as much as my cpap, and not as much as my Z1, but it's good for when I really want to travel light.

I contacted HDM, and they offered me a refurb Z2 for $245, or a repair of my Z1 for $245. I decided to get the Z2 as I really like it for travel, even though I'm pissed off at them as I only had it 4 years.

Bruce_A_Williamson
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Re: HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

Post by Bruce_A_Williamson » Wed Aug 17, 2022 10:50 am

I unpacked my Z1 Auto the other day and I got Fault 21 then Fault 33. I've used this cpap maybe five times. My CPAP supplier said that it has failed. That HDM no longer services them and that I can send it back and get a refurb (they offer refurbs but not repairs) for about $275.

This is really ridiculous as I still have the protective plastic on the screen.

Still waiting to hear from HDM (well smallCPAP.com)

Some further searching on the web and it seems that Fault 33 is an over pressure condition. Most likely the pressure sensor which is now made of unobtainium. The sensor is not to be found through any US parts suppliers.
Last edited by Bruce_A_Williamson on Thu Aug 25, 2022 4:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Sam I Am
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Re: HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

Post by Sam I Am » Mon Aug 22, 2022 11:53 am

I too received the Fault 33 error (and fault 21) on my HdM Z-1 made in 2014. Used only once or twice a year for travel so the total number of in-use hours is extremely low.

By disconnecting the power and restarting it runs for a few seconds before the Fault 33 returns. I haven’t tried the above suggestions yet but have a call to the HDM Service Center at 1-855-436-8729 and will report back.

feyhansj
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Re: HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

Post by feyhansj » Sat Aug 27, 2022 11:54 am

Had the samme error 33 issue with my Z1 here in Germany, bought my Z1 in 2015 and after pausing use through the Corona period since 2019, the error occured with the first reuse this Year in May. Had contact with both, the dealer and Breas Germany, but the messages were:

-makes no sense to repair, throw it away and buy a Z2,
-it is not only the Battery, but the electronics board has to be replaced too, and by the way, we don't have these parts at hand, maybe
these will arrive by end of the year...
- we have no more replacement Z1 to bridge the time between, the customers, to whom we send a replacement unit didn't send it back
afterwards,
- Breas Sweden told us to stop repair at least until next January, maybe it is then decided to resume the repair program, so please come
back to us in January if You so want....

and much more silly statements. My lawyer told me, that there is little chance of success to sue somebody in Sweden since the warranty has run out and intentional mistreatment of their customers is not very easy to prove.

So I will never ever buy anything from Breas and highly recommend others to do the same.

A very frustated customer

bobw9bf
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Re: HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

Post by bobw9bf » Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:40 pm

CastroBrasil wrote:
Wed Dec 15, 2021 6:36 pm
Hello fellows,

I am sending this post from my residence in Brazil. Here I have an additional difficulty to solve any issues because I could not find any technical assistance for my Z1 CPAP.

I use this product as a backup one, specially for travelling purposes and it stopped functioning - presenting both the FAULT 21 and FAULT 33 messages.

Due to this lack of specialized technical assistance here I have done an emergency repair and, IT WORKS !!! So, if you do not have an alternate option you may also try this too. Please, NO GUARANTEES !!! But it worked for me here.

It appears that all of these devices are going to have this problem in any future time. Probably within some years, despite an appropriate use. The root cause is that it has a battery inside soldered in the mainboard of the equipment. This battery will end its life and without it the device loses its configurations (date, time and pressure) and after that, it starts to present the FAULT messages 21 and 33.

For those familiarized with computers, it is something similar to the battery used for CMOS, that charges de BIOS chipset even without power. None of the Equipment manuals will tell you this. I have read them both printed and in the internet. The reason may be because you will need to ask for help in disassembling, removing the used battery and replacing (soldering iron and skills required !).

So, if you are in a desperate situation such as I were, here follows the guidance.

First, you will need to buy the battery - its a coin type (smaller than the usual ones). Its code is BR1225 and it is a special one, for soldering. Here in Brazil it was difficult to find. I found it in the web for aprox. USD 15 !

Then you will have to find an electronic technician to assist you. Disassembling the equipment is a little rough, but it is the easy part. Be careful because some components may brake. Special care on the position of a transparent tube of small diameter (difficult to assemble afterwards, the use of an adhesive tape will help)

After that, locate the battery and test it. If it is dead (such as mine was) proceed.

Ask the technician to remove it carefully using a soldering iron. Then, ask him to replace with the new one.

Reassembly the equipment carefully.

By the time you try to use again the equipment will work even eventually repeating the FAULT 33 message (the FAULT 21 disappeared). IMPORTANT to start it in a RAMP before putting your mask on !!

I have not been able to successfully upgrade its firmware and set its date/time yet. Probably after that the FAULT 33 will also disappear.

Since it is working I am not going to try additional steps by now.

I hope it can give you all some help. As I said, any HDM technical assistance should be able to support you on this. And it should be a cheap repair (more complete than the instructions above). Unfortunately I have not found any specialized assistance nearby.

Regards,
I got a Fault 21 code on my 2015 machine so time to replace battery. I paid particular attention to CastroBrasil's comment about taking care not to displace the small tube. As I opened the case and separated the fan and circuit board from the shell, I did not see any small tube. But, evidently the 1" by 1/8" i.d. tube I found on the desk must be the one I was to look out for. I can't find where it was positioned. And, of course, is the function of the tube critical?

Any help resolving this issue would be appreciated....description/photo...

Replacement of the battery requires desoldering the clip, cleaning the circuit board of solder to reinsert the clip and resoldering. I'll be using a sharp tip on my iron and a solder softener (ChipQuik) to facilitate the solder melt and facilitate cleanup.

Many thanks for any help on the small tube location/function.

Bobw9bf

RFPortman00
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Re: HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

Post by RFPortman00 » Sat Oct 08, 2022 6:38 pm

I got my Z1 disassembled. I took photos along the way. I am waiting for my BR-1225/HCN battery to come from Digikey, $1.69 plus Tax and Shipping $8.85
HDM would repair it and upgrade to Z2 firmware for $245.00

I hope these photos will be helpful.

BTW, after I removed the screws, I had to use a knife blade to tease apart the two halves of the cases. The clear solid tube has to be twisted and extracted and the oval rubber has to be pushed back into the case as you are separating the two halves. Be gentle separating the connector with wires to the fan assembly. Just use a small flat screwdriver and nudge it on each side repeatedly until it hangs free.
The screen assembly is supported and connected to the main board with a connector at each end. Just carefully lift it from the main board.
As for the FPC (flexible printed circuit) cable to the lcd screen, one end is soldered to the screen. The other end goes into a ZIF connector. Carefully lift the light brown retainer bar. Using a small flat screwdriver and nudge it on each side repeatedly until it lifts up a bit 1/16". Then the FPC (with the blue end) will lift out.

The battery is obvious. Desoldering it will take skill. I suggest clipping the leads and separating the battery. Then desolder the remaining portion of the leads. DO NOT overheat the new battery when soldering back in.
If you are not comfortable with desoldering/soldering, take it to a skilled technician. They are experienced and have the right tools.

chris_germany
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Re: HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

Post by chris_germany » Sat Nov 12, 2022 8:55 am

Thanks for this posts, helped me a lot. Same problem here with the z1 and fault 33. Electronic is my hobby - had no problems to open the case (use a heat gun, blow over the plastic seam, open is easy then). Removed the silicone connector, the 4 screws inside and the 2 connection strips. Removed the LCD. Desoldered the battery - measured it: 0 V. Soldered two wires to the +/- connections and inserted another 3-v-Battery (a CR2032). Replaced the connectors, switched it on - Fault 33 again. I do not think that there is another failure, as some discussed it here (ie the pressure sensor). Due to the battery failure the device seems to have lost crucial parts of its memory. There is for example no bluetooth identifier any more when switching on - you may not connect the device with your phone even befor the fault 33 terminates all input options. This is the most outrageous case of planned obsolescence I have ever seen - every Z1 device in the world will be bricked in the next month or years, when only the 1$ battery is exhausted - beyond any repair. I think the only possibility would be to install new software after the change of the battery again - which will be possible only through BREAS oder HDM.

kuffs
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Re: HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

Post by kuffs » Sat Apr 08, 2023 9:12 pm

Hey, I just literally right now fixed mine.

Same as everyone else, fault 33. But I noticed before the fault that it had done some things like forgotten my treatment settings. And had reset the time on the device.

With that info I was already suspecting the battery. And sure enough, the little clock battery inside it was reading 0.5v. Found the part without too much issue on Mouser https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Pa ... cyCode=USD

While I was waiting for the part I spent a decent amount of time researching. Like, it would be strange for the device to fail just because it could not persist the settings between reboots. Having a little bit of an idea how software like this is often written, I suspected that the date being reset to January of 2000 might have caused a bug in the way the device records sleep data internally. Like the incorrect date might cause it to try and go "back in time" too far in the sleep data and throw an error. I also found that there isn't a way to set the date and time on the device. Which is just absolutely absurd. I am not sure this mistake was out of complete ignorance or HDM thinking their patients might change the date on their device in order to "fill in gaps" for treatment when reporting data back to their doctor. I have no idea.

Stuff got here and I replaced the battery without too much issue. For those of you attempting this yourselves I desperately want to remind you to use LEAD FREE solder. This entire device is a sealed system. You absolutely DO NOT want to be inhaling lead residue for the rest of the time you use the device. I was also careful to use a dedicated soldering iron tip to ensure absolutely no contamination. Tips are only $15 for my iron. It is worth the small amount of money I paid to be sure I am not going to get some sort of sickness from this. I also made sure to clean the board of flux with an appropriately safe board cleaner.

Anyway, I noticed there were a couple extra headers on the board that I suspected were JTAG or maybe SWD headers for programming the date from the factory. But I did a lot of tracing and compared it against the data sheet for the MCU in this thing and I wasn't able to find a collection of pins that would allow one to hook up a programming harness easily. There are a collection of test points all over the main board and a more organized collection on the user interface board. They must be strictly used during QA testing. I really wanted to try and find a way to set the date before I reassembled this thing. Because I still suspected that the date was the actual cause of the fault in the first place. Remember that there are like 5 fault codes in the manual for this thing and 4 of them call for sending the thing back to HDM. Who presumably were the only folks with the power to reset the date.

We all got lucky tho. I was hunting for potentially a way to reflash the firmware in hopes of somehow resetting the date? But it's actually even easier than that. The z1 has a firmware upgrade tool that will allow you to just set the date. You don't even have to update the firmware if you don't want to. I also kind of wonder if it might work for the later revisions. For folks that might be having trouble with bluetooth.
Screenshot 2023-04-08 220604.png
Screenshot 2023-04-08 220604.png (29.07 KiB) Viewed 8539 times
I found the software here https://www.homelifecare.com/product/hd ... p-machine/ linked in the Firmware Update section.





For our most recent question: There are 5 screws on the back of the device. Pop the little filter shroud off the top to expose the 5th one. It will still be difficult to pull the shell apart. This device is made with a molded-in rubber gasket. It is designed to be a sealed system in order to keep dirt out. And to make sure that the sensitive pressure sensor can get a consistent reading. So gently use a plastic spudger or a guitar pick to separate the halves. You want to avoid damaging that delicate gasket.

stevenal
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Re: HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

Post by stevenal » Sun Apr 09, 2023 4:55 pm

My Z1 hasn't experienced fault 33, but I've been following this thread since it may be only a matter of time. Congratulations to kuffs for finding a solution.
When I followed the links, I see firmware is for a Z1 CPAP and may damage my Z1 Auto. I found firmware for the Auto available at: https://breas.us/z1-z2-firmware-upgrade/ IPhone 11 users might be interested in this.

kuffs,
How is the PC connected to the Z1 for the upgrade? USB cable?
Last edited by stevenal on Mon Apr 10, 2023 1:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
AirSence 10 Autoset, Dreamstation 2 backup, Swift FX, Z1 for travel.

kuffs
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Re: HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

Post by kuffs » Mon Apr 10, 2023 11:50 am

Yeah, usb. I was actually able to upgrade and set the date and time with the board out of the machine. I wanted to make sure it could get it working before I sealed it all back up.

And yeah, that firmware link is for the regular Z1. But I do wonder if one might be able to set the date/time on a Z1 Auto with that tool. Since the date/time function is distinct from flashing the firmware.

NightVader
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Re: HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

Post by NightVader » Thu Apr 13, 2023 3:06 pm

Sharing my story so others can avoid the same fate. My suggestion? DO NOT BUY A Z1 TRAVEL CPAP. Ordered a Z1 in 2016 only to have it crap out on me during a trip in 2018. The kind folks at CPAP.com overnighted a new one since I was still under warranty (I guess it's two years?). Fast forward to 2022 and the second one just died. My solution for those who aren't handy? Go with the ResMed AIrMini. It's smaller and quieter.

kuffs
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Re: HDM Z1 Have a fault 33 code. Anyone know how to fix it?

Post by kuffs » Thu Apr 13, 2023 4:06 pm

agreed entirely. My full size machine uses about the same amount of power. Takes up roughly the same amount of space when you consider all the fiddly accessories you need to operate the Z1. And my full size machine doesn't sound like a vacuum cleaner.

I could just take the humidifier off my full size machine, use an HME, and find an appropriate portable power source.



Related to finding an appropriate power source:

Milwaukee makes this adapter https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/ ... 1#sp-specs Originally intended to charge phones and power Milwaukee's 12v heated jackets off of one of their larger batteries. I bought one and did some investigation on it. It appears to produce 12v 1A regulated power off of one of their M18 batteries. I, like many of you I'm sure, have a handful of M18 batteries for my power tools. They aren't exactly "cheap" but they're about 1/4 the price of HDM's batteries. And power tool batteries tend to be very resilient to temperature changes. I know my stock Z1 battery drops to about 4hrs of use below 50F.

I am just about to build a little adapter to hook the Z1 up to the Milwaukee adapter. I plan to use the assembly this weekend while camping. I'll provide a trip report after.

If it's successful I'll make a new thread detailing my findings.