Minitor V...how not to wake the wife and kid?

[vonirkinshtine]

Ok, so...after a short break for the birth of my daughter, I'm ready to (and my wife is going to let me) start running some calls again. However, I have yet to think of a way to get my alerts through my Minitor V, and NOT wake the wife and kid. I'm assuming I need to use the "silent mode" but if I put that thing on the nightstand, when it vibrates it's almost as loud as when it goes off normally.

 

[WhelenCollector007]

The vibrate should wake you up fast enough to grab it and not wake anyone else. At least that's how mine works.

 

[firefighter7017]

My wife learned to sleep through it, but I couldn't expect an infant to do the same. I would have to echo the above and put it on vibrate. Hopefully you catch it fast enough to not wake anyone.

 

[Steve0625]

Ok, so...after a short break for the birth of my daughter, I'm ready to (and my wife is going to let me) start running some calls again. However, I have yet to think of a way to get my alerts through my Minitor V, and NOT wake the wife and kid. I'm assuming I need to use the "silent mode" but if I put that thing on the nightstand, when it vibrates it's almost as loud as when it goes off normally.

A couple of things can be done in the programming to make this work better for your situation.


First, on the Model Options tab, make sure that Fixed Alert is set to OFF. That sets the volume of the alert tone to be the same as voice volume. If you turn that function ON, you get full volume alert regardless of voice volume setting.


Then, still on the Model Options tab, set the Alert Duration to ON and pick a short time that works for you. The time can be set in 0.48 second increments. Try 0.48 or 0.96 first and see how it goes. This determines the length of the alert tone.


One other thing you can do is experiment with the alert tone selection on the F1 and F2 tabs. There are a bunch of choices and some of them are pretty mellow.

 

[bunnyfurr]

Take some kind of padding such as a towel and put in under the charger so it's not vibrating the nightstand. My wife found small pad at office depot similar to a mouse type pad and it works great. It still enough to vibrate yet wake me and not the whole house kids and dogs good luck

 

[mjMIff]

Swiss Phone gives me the option to have a silent alert, just the vibrations and then I can look on my phone and see what is going on or play the recorded message. But one benefit the Swiss Phone has over the Minitor is the squelch you hear between tones unlocking and when your dispatch starts speaking, for us it can be up to 30s before they will re-tone and try again.. You don't get any of that with the Swiss Phone, it is very nice


So out of 8 profiles if you made one with a very soft tone, you would either just hear that or you can let it unlock and no squelch just talking which seems easier on the ears at night.. If that actually makes any sense..

 

[JPolston]

Can't expect to help the newborn, congrats, to be used to it, but as for the wife, I'd be kind of shitty if I was told I wasn't allowed to respond. As for the waking up bit, I'd be a little mad there too. That pager goes off for a reason, you need to get up and go. I know way too many firefighters' wives that have had to put up with it for years. More than years, just about for their entire lives. My grandfather, uncle, and father were all on the dept. at the same time. I can remember plenty of times we'd be sleeping and all 3 of the pagers would go off.


I can understand some time off when the baby was born, and in all actuality, I commend you for that. Dedication to family does come first. After so long though, it's time to turn the pager back on and be ready.


As for the entire point of this post, the whole point of the device is to wake you up and get you moving, so honestly I don't know of any way to do this. My guess is that the only way to do this is put the pager on your hip as you sleep. I know I myself can't do that considering how I sleep, plus it's unlikely that would wake me up. I have my pager on set alert to be able to wake my ass up out of a dead sleep.


Wife may have to bite the bullet, but as I said, I don't know.

 

[vonirkinshtine]

So...had the pager on for the first time since the baby tonight and ended up running (and working) my first CPR.

 

[pdk9]

Make the wifey sleep on the couch!!!


Lol, JK. Unfortunately, minitor tones at 3 AM is what she gets for having a vollie hubbie, & (as much as I loved the minitor V) there is no low volume on it like the IV; even when I had the V's on/off/volume knob just turned a hair past the on mode, it was still freakin loud.


Best of luck with the baby.

 

[vonirkinshtine]

I'll have to check with her when they wake up (I'm at my 9-5 now), but I think I figured out a solution. They didn't stir much when the tones hit at 3:20am.


I used the belt clip on the pager and clipped it to the top of the lampshade on my end table. It deadened the vibration so it didn't rattle, but was still a loud enough *BZZZZZZZZZZ* to get my attention.


...it was a good call for me to have gotten up for too (not that the call was good, but I'm glad I was there).

 

[foxtrot5]

If the vibration on a lampshade wakes you up, props to you. I've got TWO Min5s in amplified chargers cranked to the max and I can still occasionally sleep through tones... I'm a HEAVY sleeper.

 

[mjMIff]

If the vibration on a lampshade wakes you up, props to you. I've got TWO Min5s in amplified chargers cranked to the max and I can still occasionally sleep through tones... I'm a HEAVY sleeper.

Ever thought about using the relay output to turn on a lamp or something? I think they still sell them online if you are not up to wiring it up yourself but even the light from a red bulb might help you wake up. Our station is wired up this way and calls turn on the lights in the bed rooms and hallway... Once you reset the call they turn off and of course can be turned on/off with a standard light switch..


I don't think that would help much in OP's case though

 

[Zoe]

Lol, JK. Unfortunately, minitor tones at 3 AM is what she gets for having a vollie hubbie, & (as much as I loved the minitor V) there is no low volume on it like the IV; even when I had the V's on/off/volume knob just turned a hair past the on mode, it was still freakin loud.


Best of luck with the baby.

Sounds like the V was programmed for "fixed alert" where the alert tone is at max regardless of speaker volume.


It is simple to toggle this setting off in the programming so the alert volume will be tied to the speaker volume.

 

[Bigassfireman]

Believe it or not, all three of my kids have slept through the beeping since the day they came home from the hospital. The wife is on the squad also so she understands when it hours off at 3am.

 

[vonirkinshtine]

If I had a programming dock and the software, you'd bet I'd be tinkering with it. But those pagers are maintained by the mothership (the County...dun dun DUN!).

 

[MESDA6]

There is a device called a "bed shaker" or "pillow shaker" made for the deaf and hard of hearing. It is usually used to alert them to a door bell, smoke detector, weather radio, alarm clock, etc...


There should be a model that is a small vibrating pad that you put under your pillow. You should be able to use something like that with the auxiliary output on the charging base. It may still wake your wife, but should not be as intrusive as the unit vibrating across the night stand.


Amazon or medical supply houses should have them.