Canon inkjet printer survey... Our Printers have internal counters?!?

[ocular]

The russian place for service manuals is http://smanual.ru

I have purchased the service and parts manual for my office of mp730 (4 machines) - cost $50US (26MB of PDF files)

Yes there is an internal counter that can be accessed via the correct key sequence. I presume that this is used to initiate the waste full error when a certain number in reached. In Canon printers the waste ink from the head cleaning process accumulates in a waste pad on the floor of the printer. I would think that it would be quite difficult to have a sensor to detect when the waste pad is full and thus I assume it is based on the internal counter when a certain number of printed pages is reached.

When the waste ink error shows - there is a key code to reset the error and the waste pads are replaced. The is expected to be done at a Canon Service center.

This is some info I found out about the Canon i850 expected life ( has the same printhead as MP730)

Life
Main Body & Print Head
(1) Paper feed count:

30,000 sheets (monochrome, 1,500 character standard text pattern printing)
10,000 sheets (printing each color at 7.5% duty)

(2) 5 years

The life of this product is (1) or (2) above, which ever comes first

When I get organised I plan to send an email to Canon asking them help me plan my maintenance budget for my office.

I have a MP730 machine (4 cartridge printheads) that print 500 black text pages a month. At what stage will I encur the waste full error and as the machine will be out of warranty - how much will this cost to service?

 

[Nifty]

So, this $50 manual... will it give you all the secrets of the printer?

It should be easy to determine if the counter trips the waste tank error. Those people who have used the reset codes... If you reset the printer WITHOUT changing the pad and kept printing would the error show up within a few hundred prints, OR wouldn't show up for another 30,000 sheets? If the former then there must be a gauge of sorts, if the latter than it must be a tripped error message, right?

 

[Grandad35]

Ocular - there is hope that you can service at least some of this yourself. See:
http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/inkjetstuff11.html

I was under the understanding that the "waste tank full" message was based on the number of cleaning and deep cleaning cycles more than the number of pages printed, since that is when ink is dumped into the tank. I wouldn't be surprised is the number of borderless prints is also somehow involved - the overspray ink may not go into the tank, but it has to go somewhere. That is why I limit my usage of borderless to those cases where it is absolutely necessary.

Since I cut my 4x6s out of 8.5x11s anyway, if I want borderless 4x6s, I just print them three to a page and cut them out after printing - no ink overspray to worry about.

 

[Nifty]

Update... I think I unlocked some of the info that is gathered from the Canon Survey program!

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=165

 

[plevyadophy]

Waste Tank Full - Built In Obsolescence - The Answer
==================================

Just been reading the posts of Ocular, Niffty-Stuff, and Grandad35 (Pot Nos 11,12,13) re what causes the Waste Tank Full error to occur.

Firstly, I would say that Canon has to use some method. And I guess without the benefit of a sensor at the Waste Tank one sensible option would be to have a counter that counts the number of Print Head Cleaning cycles.

However, I do believe that Canon should make it an easily serviceable part. They would still make money I guess because people may want to buy new Head cleaning components. But it strikes me as wholly inefficient to have thousands of people around the world sending their printers back to Canon just to have the Waste Tank replaced and counter reset. Not to mention the pain in the backside if you rely on the printer for business.

Now, today I got the dreaded Waste Tank Full error beeps.

Here's, the interesting part.

I bought the printer on the 8th May 2000 and today, 7th May 2005, exactly 5 years later, I get the Waste Tank Full error message.

So it seems to me that the Waste Tank Full error kicks in at 5 years irrespective of usage; because I am certainly not a heavy user.

Now the funny thing is, this thread is all about counters on our printers and the post by Ocular (#11) talks of Print Head life. I suspect that there is also some kinda counter and cut off mechanism built into the Print Heads themselves. Why do I say that?

Well, just about a week ago my Colour Print Head gave up on me. I cleaned it by using flush, by soaking it, and using the air can method. Nothing worked. It just died. The Print Head came with the printer, so it's just a week or so short of being 5 years old. I hardly ever used the thing in that time. I reckon that I used it maybe 15 times at the most.

Then at around the same time, in fact the same damn day, my super expensive Photo Colour Print Head gave up and stopped working. I bought that in January 2002. But I hardly ever used it. It comes supplied with a set of three Photo Colour Ink Tanks and I still have two sets left.

So I guess these Print Heads are pre-programmed to fail after a set amount of TIME instead of a set amount of USAGE. This to me is scandalous!!!! To buy the Photo Print Head cost me 52 and I have just bought another one - which I am now thinking of returning as I will not be using it extensively and the thought of using it just a few times and for it to then fails just horrifies me.

I think there should be a public outrcy about this sort of thing. I know Canon will defend themselves by saying that they are ensuring the quality performance of their products, which is all well and good, but they should do it a little more fairly. At present I think the counter system they are currently using is a rip off.

It would be great if someone knew how to reset the Print Heads so that they start working again; or perhaps offered a service to do this.

I am gonna email Canon and ask them how much they charge to replace - assuming they even bother to replace - and reset the Waste Ink Tank. If I remember I will let you all know how much they charge. If I don't get back to you all, just drop me an email to remind me.

Now I am off to do the Waste Tank Full reset sequence ............... wish me luck .................................




.

 

[Nifty]

plevyadophy... WAIT

Do you know how to print the extended nozzle test patters and EEPROM info sheets on your printer? It would be great to see what your pages say regarding the "D=" number and number of pages, etc.

Could you print and scan those pages before and after you do resets?

 

[plevyadophy]

Erm .............

Really sorry.

(1) I haven't a clue how to do that EEPROM thingy for my printer and (2) I have only just seen your post, long after I have already reset the printer.

Really sorry.

By the way, I have reset my printer without bothering to open it up and physically clean the Waste Pad/Tank. For how much longer can I get away with that?

Will it be OK for another 5 years? Or will I be compelled very soon to do the job properly?

And one last question: Do you have any experience as to Canon's support for very old printers, in terms of out of warranty repairs? I mean for how long do they keep parts? ( The reason I ask is that my current printer is in fantastic shape and has lasted 5 years, the model is probably 6 years old, and my printer could last for another 5 years I guess)

Thanks in advance.


.

 

[Grandad35]

Plevyadophy,

To reset your waste tank full alarm, you pressed the "Resume" button 4 times, then pressed the "Power" button while in service mode. If you only press the resume button twice, then the Power button, you will get a printout that includes the date when your printer was first powered up, as well as the date of the last usage. If you press the Resume button 3 times before pressing the Power button, you will reset the printer's memory so that the dates are reset to 1970 (the "Beginning of computer time"). This should eliminate any problems caused by the date.

 

[plevyadophy]

@ Grandad35

I don't quite understand the Service Mode thing you are talking of.

Here's how I reset my BJC-85 printer:

1: Unplug Power Cord
2: Hold POWER and RESUME buttons
3: Plug in Power Cord
4: Release buttons after the printers starts up
5: Hold CARTRIDGE and RESUME
6: Press POWER
7: Release all buttons after the beeps
8: Press CARTRIDGE 16 times
9: Press RESUME
10: Unplug the Power cord


@ Everyone

I was just doing some sums ( as you do when you have nothing useful to do with your day! hee hee hee) and I worked out that the figures qouted by "ocular" (Post # 11) means that if you want your Print Head to last for 5 years then you can only print between 5 and 15 pages per day.

Wow!!

That's appalling.

If the heads are pre-configured to fail at that rate then it means people have to pay out for a new head perhaps every 2 years - that's assuming it's the Print Heads that fail and it's not just simply that you get a Waste Ink Full Error message.

Although, as I said earlier, I do reckon the Heads are designed to give up on you at a set time. (My expensive Colour and Photo Colour Print Heads have given up on me with little use whilst the Black Print Head seems to be OK so far).


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[Grandad35]

Plevyadophy,

Obviously, your printer's reset procedure is very different from what I am used to - see (http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=165&p=1) post # 6 for details. Does the place where you found your waste tank full reset instructions list something like the options listed in this post? The "EEPROM initialize" option resets the dates in the printer's memory, and the "EEPROM information print" option prints lots of information, including these dates.