Ink chip resetters: Need clarification.

thor

I asked something similar a while ago but have still not got to grips with chip resetters. I have an Epson xp-305 which I use with compatibles bought off ebay. Now I understand that they contain more ink than Epson's own cartridges and as a result the printer will think that it is running low(via an approx count). What will happen with compats when the printer thinks it has run out out ink? Will it refuse to print or will I still be able to use the cart until it really does run empty?
Will a resetter be needed for compatibles or just for genuine cartridges which the user wants to refill?

johnmc

One counter is in the chip. If the cartridge contains more ink then it will allow you to print more.

I refill my cartridges and use a chip resetter to "zero" them.

The printer also has a counter for the ink that is purged. This happens every time you clean the heads (on startup and when manually selected). Once a preset limit is reached the printer stops working and becomes disposable.

I have cleaned the felt in the purge bin a number of times and reset this counter with the SSC Service Utility (not supported for your printer, it appears).

thor

johnmc wrote: »

One counter is in the chip. If the cartridge contains more ink then it will allow you to print more.

So you have to judge yourself when the ink is starting to run out? My compatibles are not made out of clear plastic so I will only be able to go by the print output quality before deciding when is the right time to replace in that case.

johnmc wrote: »

The printer also has a counter for the ink that is purged. This happens every time you clean the heads (on startup and when manually selected). Once a preset limit is reached the printer stops working and becomes disposable.

I have cleaned the felt in the purge bin a number of times and reset this counter with the SSC Service Utility (not supported for your printer, it appears).

I really hope that this is incorrect or that the counter is at least set to a very high number. It is absolutely criminal that Epson can damage your property after you have handed them cash to purchase one of their printers.

sillygoose

I use Epson compatibles that are made in coloured plastic to match the ink colour, you can see through them held up to the light. I use my resetter device when they the printer utility says they are getting low (so before the printer actually stops)

I find they still have over half a tank left in them. After reset I run them until the printer thinks they are empty and refuses to run. They are still not empty even then.

You can also slosh the cartridge around and with experience feel how much is left in them compared to an empty one

Its a bad idea to run until the print quality fails, this means the head is running dry at which point the ink can dry out in the head clogging it permanently ruining the printer. The printer software is specifically designed to avoid this happening and to err on the side of caution, obviously using a resetter can mess this up, its not worth pushing your luck too far!

Resetting Epson originals can be a problem, some of their cartridges contain a wet sensor that is triggered when the ink runs too low, it cannot be reset even by refilling so even if the resetter worked on an original Epson chip, chip would still read the sensor and not run. Epson clearly added this in to circumvent refilling and resetting, killing the recycling possibilities.

My resetter works fine and now means I run at 50p a cartridge, print quality is good for normal use but then I gave up doing photos at home and just use an upload and print service as the quality is vastly better than any home setup can ever do.

paddyrg

Personally I run until dry but always have spares standing by for a speedy change. Frankly with printers being so cheap and inks costing more than unicorn blood plasma, it's a chance I'll take.