Sunday 7 August 2011

Accu-chek Performa Expired Strips hack




If you have a Accu-check Performa, you will know that the strips come with a expiry date.

If the strips have expired, you will not be able to use them, even if you manually change the devices date.

This is because the device has a second battery onboard, which powers another clock, which is set in the factory.


There are several hacks online showing you how to get around this problem, some which involve shorting out this second battery.  This does work, however I am not into shorting out batteries.



There are two screws on the back of the case, one is under the label.  (yes, goodbye warranty)




Then lever the case open, by pushing back on the internal case tabs in these locations.




The best method is to use a soldering iron to lift one side of the battery (point 1) of the board, then use a wire to momentarily short the contacts on the board (point 1 & 2) to totally discharge the real time clock circuit.






If you are no good with a soldering iron, I suggest that you don't do this procedure.  Also you should not rely on expired strips, because they are "expired"






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8 comments:

  1. thanks my dear , you work for poor people who can not purchase the strips, good bless you for the tip you provide to reuse the expire code strips,

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  2. I am trying to use Nov 2011 strips but no joy here. I'm being forced to by the new strips.

    Mine has only 1 screw.
    I disconnected the battery shorted the connections then replaced the battery, but memory still active (no reset)
    Now the battery is not connected at all but the memory is still active!!!! They are getting clever!
    NB
    When resetting the date it won't go earlier than 2012 I get 2012-2031 only, I will assume that's because the memory has 2012 readings and prevents an earlier Year.
    Still looking for a way to clear the memory, but I fear that is impossible, maybe there is a infrared hack!
    My advice is to keep resetting the date, no open required. Just keep the device at 1/1/2012 and your strips will never expire.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, Sounds like they are storing the Date in a non-volatile memory. Still there is no harm in trying, just in case it works. It is a good reason to hang on to the old accucheck.

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  3. It does work! Don’t worry about shortening the battery. Just remove the battery and when you re-assemble the unit reset the whole thing to initiate setup. Don’t worry about setting the correct time and date. Just complete settings and your "expired" chip will work again. Mine does fine. The only thing is if you remove the main battery you will lose stored info (who cares, write it down ;-) Personally I don’t think strips will be much more inaccurate if "expired" by few months!

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  4. Anyone succeeded in hacking model ACCU-CHECK Performa Nano? Taking out main batteries don't solve problem neither does setting date to last year. Thank you in advance.

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  5. New versions of the meters have memory that STAYS after this, you can't go back farther then a couple months, and it knows the chip is old. My solution (since I had 2 boxes with the same date) was to remove the internal battery, then set it back 2 months and use a DIFFERENT expired chip. The number of the chip (not just the date) stays stored in the meters now, so using another chip was my only solution. I have a feeling my next hack will be to make a chip that expires WAY in the future. Remember, they call it medical "practice" for a reason, doctors don't know how lots of stuff works, but they sure can charge you for it....what if the guy who makes fireworks for the 4th of july only had to "practice".
    If you're worried about the expired strips being inaccurate, just use the control solution to test em, if that test is good enough for "new", then it's sure as hell good for "used".

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  6. There is a SCREW on the back of the device underneath the label... use a small screw to get it out... it looks like a star 5 sides (i dont know how to say it). You don't need to unsolder the battery... just short the battery for 15sec and assemble all again... once you turn on the device it will ask you for date time and some other crap... do not change anything... leave it like that... just hold the power button until it saves the info and ur good to go... hows that?

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  7. In my case, after the hack and "aviva" model" I wasn't able to use the glucometer anymore, not even with the original chip and date. An advise.... CHANGE GLUCOMETER TYPE: ROCHE IS WORKING IN ORDER TO MAKE EVERYBODY SPEND MORE AND MORE MONEY, EVEN IF NOT NEEDED. NOBODY SHOULD ACCEPT THIS.

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