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Enuresis Alarms
Information about the DRI Sleeper®
bedwetting treatment alarms.
Both the DRI Sleeper® Eclipse and DRI Sleeper® Excel
have a volume control, but it is inside so that a child is not likely to see it
readily and turn the volume down when you have left his or her bedroom.
Both are tuned to high volume (around 98 dBA at the ear) and rarely do
parents want to turn them down.
The DRI Sleeper® Eclipse (wireless) because it can be put
further away can be tuned to even higher volume (approximately 106 dBA), but it
will switch off after 2 minutes and so there is no risk to hearing.
The Urosensor™ is put inside a mini pad or pantyliner (any inexpensive mini
pad or pantyliner will do), and this is done by cutting a 1 inch slit in the
absorbing layers towards the top or bottom edge of the mini pad or pantyliner.
Put the point of the scissors inside the slit, and moving them backwards and
forwards and downwards, create a tunnel inside the absorbing layers so that you
can slip the detector inside. Although the Urosensor™ will usually stay
inside the tunnel by itself, to ensure that it does not pull out, you can tape
across the slit with a sticky tape. With the slit facing upwards, the mini pad
or pantyliner is stuck into the crutch of the underwear using the sticky back
surface of the pantyliner or mini pad.
Consistently we have found that putting the Urosensor™ in a mini pad is the
most effective, because the mini pad provides a collecting area that is even
wider than the Urosensor™, and it is very absorbing, and so quickly catches
the urine and directs it onto the Urosensor™. You will also find that once
your child is starting to respond to the DRI Sleeper®
that only a patch on the minipad will get wet, not the underwear.
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If you prefer not to use the mini pad or pantyliner, then the Urosensor™
can be put in between two pairs of underpants, or you can cut some rectangles of
any cotton material and sew a rectangle into the crutch of the underwear, making
sure that it is just wide enough for the detector to slip inside and to be
reasonably tight. The opening will face upwards.
Over more than 25 years of treating bedwetting and developing bedwetting
alarms, we have found that having a small detector, such as a clip or domes,
attaching to underwear may appear to be an effective and simple way of attaching
the detector, but in our experience it is too easy for boys in particular to
miss the small clip or dome and so the alarm is not triggered. Clips and domes
are also likely to come unclipped. For this reason we developed our Urosensors™
which are long enough and wide enough for the first amount of urine to trigger
the alarm.
The Urosensor™ is suitable to use in a pull-up. Simply cut a 1 inch (25
millimetres) slit in the pull-up in the crutch area, insert the point of the
scissors into the slit, and moving the scissors from side to side, make a small
tunnel into which you can insert the detector. To make sure that the Urosensor™
stays in place, it can be useful to tape across the slit once you have put the
detector inside.
The pull-up has granules which are designed to absorb liquid and may keep the
Urosensor™ too dry and fail to trigger. In this case either ensure the
Urosensor™ is as close to the surface of the pull-up as possible, or put
in a minipad and stick that in the crutch of the pull-up.
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The Urosensors™ are moulded units and so no urine or water can get inside.
Therefore it is simple to wash in soap and water, or if you want an even higher
standard of hygiene, then you can clean it in alcohol (e.g., rubbing alcohol
from any pharmacy).
1. DRI Sleeper® Excel (with plug-in Urosensor™).
You must think of this Urosensor™ as you would an earphone on a personal radio
or an iPod. With reasonable care the radio or IPod lasts for many years and so
does the DRI Sleeper® alarm unit.
However, the earphone is the consumable item of the iPod and personal radio and
needs replacing from time to time. The Urosensor™ is the equivalent of the
earphone, and just as people often have a spare earphone on hand, our advice is
that a spare Urosensor™ is a good idea. Because the Urosensor™ is used by a
child the exact life of the Urosensor™ is hard to predict.
2. DRI Sleeper® Eclipse (wireless). The wireless
Urosensor™ should not need replacing because it has no moving parts. The
internal battery should give up to three years life, especially of it is
“docked” on the DRI Sleeper® alarm unit when
not in use.
The wire is 2.5 feet long (850 millimetres) and is suitable for children aged
five years, through to young teenagers. For older children and adults the DRI
Sleeper® Eclipse wireless model is more suitable because
there is no wire connection.
How is the DRI Sleeper® alarm different
from many other bedwetting the alarms?
The DRI Sleeper® alarms have special electronics.
When the Urosensor™ is wet by urine, it triggers the alarm to start beeping,
but then the Urosensor™ no longer has current running through it.
This is quite different from many other alarms, because with those alarms,
all the time that the alarm is sounding, they have current flowing through the
Urosensor™ and while this cannot cause a shock, it can cause the urine to
become acidic and irritate sensitive skin.
In the case of the DRI Sleeper®, this cannot
happen, because there is no current continuing to run in the Urosensor™.
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The DRI Sleeper® Excel runs on
six volts and the DRI Sleeper®, Eclipse
on three volts. Both use only a tiny current, and are so safe that you can put
the Urosensor™ on your tongue, and trigger the alarm, but you will feel
nothing. For much less than a second a few microamps (which you can not feel)
pass through the Urosensor™ and trigger the DRI Sleeper®
alarm.
The DRI Sleeper® Eclipse has an on-off
switch.
DRI Sleeper® Excel. The Urosensor™
plugs into the alarm unit and this switches it on so that it is ready to detect
urine. When the alarm has been triggered by the urine, the alarm will keep on
beeping until the Urosensor™ is unplugged from the DRI Sleeper®
Excel alarm unit. This switches the alarm off, and also resets
it ready to be switched on again when the Urosensor™ is plugged in.
DRI Sleeper® Excel. The batteries are 4 X 1.5
volt alkaline "button type" similar to those used in a calculator.
(Panasonic LR 44 or equivalent, we put a sticker inside the battery compartment
showing the equivalent ones which are suitable). They last at least a year and
should not need changing.
DRI Sleeper® Eclipse. The DRI Sleeper®
alarm unit has a Panasonic 2354 and this battery must be used in replacement.
However, it lasts up to three years, and unless the DRI Sleeper®
Eclipse has been used before by several people it will not need
changing. The wireless Urosensor™ is sealed and the battery cannot be changed.
However it will also last up to three years because of our special battery
saving technology.
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