Measuring amount of ink left in an Epson compatible cartridge.

thor

I use compatible Ink cartridges with my Epson inkjet. They contain more ink than the epson equivalents and I am unsure how the printer will measure the amount of ink remaining. Will it be accurate or will it assume a lower initial level of ink so that it will report the cartridge is nearly empty when in fact the compatible could have more than 40 or 50% left?

pedrothefish

i think that the way my epson printer works is by count, I use compatibles but occasionally they do not reset, so i use a "chip resetter" that i bought years ago. you then get another lot of printouts until the ink runs out, although the computer tells you that its still got ink!
I just mark the cartridges to let me know that they have been reset

bluesnake

If you want to know how much ink is left, get a set of drug scales and weigh the empty cartridges. Great for small ebay parcels too.

sillygoose

pedrothefish wrote: »

i think that the way my epson printer works is by count, I use compatibles but occasionally they do not reset, so i use a "chip resetter" that i bought years ago. you then get another lot of printouts until the ink runs out, although the computer tells you that its still got ink!
I just mark the cartridges to let me know that they have been reset

Yup they just keep a count of how many shots it prints and calculates the remaining on that.

the compatibles cartridges I use come in ink matching coloured plastic cases and its easy to see how much just by holding them up to the light.

I also use a resetter device (cost about £8) and when the driver shows about 40% used I reset them to 100% then let them run until the printer thinks they are empty. Still always some left.

Its not a good idea to let the printer run dry as it could lose the head which is why the printer always errs on the side of caution.

All in one printer cost £49 on a Tesco special, cartridges are less than a quid and reset once cost me nearly half that.

I have a big supply of cartridges and a spare new printer of the same model stored away. When the current one dies I can switch to the new one without having to waste/giveaway/sell my cartridge stocks.

As long as I avoid the 'firmware update' trap by careful management of the software drivers printing doesn't get more economical than this.

sax11

As long as they are compatibles i would reset the chip.

Steer clear of refils

yangptangkipperbang

sillygoose wrote: »

As long as I avoid the 'firmware update' trap by careful management of the software drivers printing doesn't get more economical than this.

Yes it does !!

http://www.cityinkexpress.co.uk/

sax11

I wouldn't advise CISS to anyone. Been in the business 18 years so well aware of the problems

Also that site you linked is very expensive.

yangptangkipperbang

sax11 wrote: »

I wouldn't advise CISS to anyone. Been in the business 18 years so well aware of the problems

Also that site you linked is very expensive.

I have used CISS on two printers (the first one died of overuse) and it has been faultless. How you can describe a product as "very expensive" when the cost of the complete system (which lasted me almost a year before refilling) is less than 4 OEM cartridges, really escapes me !
"Problems" have been 100% non-existent.

I can only assume that your "business" is selling grossly overpriced cartridges to unsuspecting punters !

thor

sillygoose wrote: »

Yup they just keep a count of how many shots it prints and calculates the remaining on that.

I also use a resetter device (cost about £8) and when the driver shows about 40% used I reset them to 100% then let them run until the printer thinks they are empty. Still always some left.

I think this is the way I might go. Does anyone know how much ink the software thinks a genuine cartridge has when full? If I subtract this figure from the capacity of my compatible then that should give a decent estimate of how much is left when the software indicates it has run out. Is this how you have come to 40% above sillygoose?
Also I am assuming ebay is the place to buy a chip resetter, will they work for all epson inkjets?

thor

I've now had a chance to search ebay for a resetter for cartridges compatible with my epson xp-305 and I can't find any. Any suggestions?