canon ink

[stevek]

Hi I m new to the forum. I have a canon printer model Pixma 648 which i have bought in Asia years ago. The ink cartridges are CLI821BK, M, C, Y and PGI820 BK. Recently i was relocated to work in the UK but they dont have these inks. I can only find the same with different number CLI521BK M C Y and PGI520BK. I wonder if they are the same?

 

[PeterBJ]

I guess the printer is Canon Pixma MP648? The Canon printers and ink cartridges are regionalised. The inks and cartridges are identical for the Asian (region 8) and European (region 5) versions of the printer, but the chips on the cartridges are different. Changing the printers region in the firmware will not change the needed cartridges.

A resetter for PGI-820/CLI-821 cartridges might change the European chips into Asian chips the printer will accept, but there is no guarantee that this will work.

Another solution is to transfer the Asian chips to European cartridges and use these. You can then either disable ink monitoring to use the European cartridges or you could get a PGI-820/CLI-821 resetter to reset your Asian chips. Ink monitoring will then work as the cartridges are seen as new OEM by the printer. You could also refill your Asian cartridges cartridges and use these for printing with or without resetting.

For chip transfer see this.

 

[stevek]

Many thanks for the clarification! I now understand where the problem is. Given the steep price of printer ink here, I think the easiest way out is to buy a new printer!

 

[The Hat]

@stevek, please don’t give up on your printer that quick and without a fight, you owe that much to it, because you’ll not find one as good as the MP648.

Swapping the chips for now will get you back printing right away, and it will give you more time to sort something better out later.

Get a set of compatible cartridges for now, you don’t have to purchase the expensive OEM’s until you know what your going to do for the future, there’s nothing wrong with the printer so don’t kill it… Please..

 

[stevek]

I m not the sort who throw things away. I said that out of frustration. These greedy corporations that price their new printers at £70 while charging the cartridges at rip off price £50. That would only drive people to throw usable printers away and keep buying new ones. I will certainly give it a go to transfer the asian chip onto the european cartridges but that would mean the trouble of doing the transfer each time the cartridge runs out.

 

[stevek]

i have done the transfer. You guys at Printer Knowledge saved my printer!

Printer working now. However, it still regard the two new cartridge as empty and show remaining ink vol alert

 

[PeterBJ]

You will at some time in the near future get a warning from the printer that the cartridges might be empty. You can then disable the ink monitoring by pressing and holding the Stop/Resume button for 5 seconds when prompted to. Without ink monitoring you have to check the ink yourself by inspecting the cartridges.

Here is a post with an example of this ink monitor disabling.

 

[stevek]

if i go for the refill route, i will have to buy printer ink which i believe cheaper than cartridges. this ink refill, is it brand specific or generic BK C M Y?

 

[The Hat]

Refilling is by far the cheapest route to keep your printer going, but like everything else in life it doesn’t start off like that, in fact it can be a little bit more expensive initially.

When you start from a standing position you’ll have to get quite a plethora of gadgets to begin with, but once you have these things then the saving are about 80%.

Not all inkjet printers’ work the same so the inks have to be different too, to the eye it all looks like coloured water, but in actual fact, it’s specially formulated to suite specific printers, so it’s imperative to purchase good quality inks to match your brand of printer always.

If you decide to take the plunge into the art of refilling then go back and talk with Websnail again for any advice and help you think you’ll need..