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SleepIsGreat wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 18, 2025 11:16 am

There are several basic parameters that the machine itself cannot be programmed to perform unless it has the smartcard to read from.

Are you accessing the clinical menu? ----->viewtopic/t25140/Help-unlocking-Remstar ... -menu.html

Hi ChicagoGranny - It's nice to meet you!

Absolutely yes, I am able to access the "Clinician's Mode" on the machine. And all the settings that I make there are spot on and will hold in the machine's permanent memory. Yet, Clinician's Mode does not enable the ability to change the actual behavior of the machine in terms of how it operates in normal Therapy Mode. If only allows you set to set your very basic parameters. This is where the smartcard comes in. When programmed and inserted into the machine via the Encore Pro software => Infineer/Mako DT-3500 smartcard reader/writer => the smartcard => the CPAP machine's reader/writer is the pathway to set/reset the behavior of the machine per the examples I was sharing with Pugsy. Make sense? Thanks for jumping in, great question, and the quest for the Infineer/Mako DT-3500 smartcard reader continues! Warm regards,

Mark

SleepIsGreat wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 18, 2025 1:08 pm

Make sense?

Only to a #$%^$#& company like Respironics which has done things like encrypt the data, thinking users shouldn't see their own damn data.

1....when I used the M series APAP etc...I never saw in Encore how to change the way the machine works. I knew we could make changes but I thought that was just in the same setting area that we can access manually and not need the software.
So I don't know if what you say makes sense or can be done.

Moot point at the moment without any DT 3500 to try it out.

2....so okay, how do you evaluate any changes made without having any data to look at beyond hours of use?
How do you know if it was a good change or not so good change? What measurements do you use?

Hi Pugsy,

Inside the Encore Pro software is where you can make the machine's behavior settings change for sure. It's how Respironics loaded their REMstarPlus Series M CPAP machine's programmable ROM to place them in auto-start operation when the mask is applied, start the ramp process automatically to permanently maintain the set levels, and begin an operating mode that is what is called "Therapy Mode" - rather than the manual process that is needed otherwise. I learned this many years ago when working on the machines at the time and having to extremely carefully remove and replace the dead coin batteries in them. When the coin batteries die (and they do), the programmable ROM on the machine starts to fade and eventually depart all together. However, the machine is never bricked, rather fully operational and runs just fine again upon battery replacement. When a new battery is installed though, the CPAP machine needs all the information back from the programmed card to restore the proper Therapy mode parameters as the Encore Pro user sets up so that the patient does not have to intervene and manually trigger Therapy mode (just one example).

In other words, without the programming received from the smartcard, the machine with its new battery defaults to turning the machine on at plug-in, setting the machine to full ramp and starting the blower motor at that full ramp, not the desired Start Ramp (as set inside of Clinician Mode). This then becomes a process/hassle for the patient to have to perform manually. A properly programmed smartcard that is initialized and programmed by the Encore Pro interface enables setting the machine's operating behavior (as one of its powers) to automatically enter into Therapy Mode at low ramp as it should and wait until the mask is placed on the patient to turn the machine on and begin therapy automatically. That's how it all comes together and is just one example of what the smartcard does when it's inserted into the REMstarPlus M Series model for the first time (and all times subsequently). It's important to note that both the Infineer/Mako DT-3500 smartcard device and the machine's smartcard device are both capable of reading and writing to the smartcard (as you no doubt already know). Hope this helps to understand in a deeper dive. Thank you so much again, and let's find that DT-3500!!

Warm regards,

Mark