Do All Current 3880 Refillable Cartridges Require The Original Chips?

[costadinos]

I'm planning on getting a 3880 and use it with refillable cartridges, and so far all the cartridges I could find sold by reputable sellers (inkrepublic, inkjetmall, precision colors, inkjetcarts), seem to require the transfer of the original chips from the OEM to the refillable cartridges to work.
Are there any good quality cartridges for the 3880 that don't require the OEM chips?

 

[cls]

hi costa
there NO cartriges that work right of the box without oem chips
but what will probably work : Decoder chips

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Chip-Decoder-suitable-for-3880/850863449.html

they are crazy expensive okay
but you hook them up internaly to the RISC board where the oem chips conect tru flat cable conectors and put these tiny chip board onto it

 

[jtoolman]

Interesting option! But wow, expensive!
Actually the regular refillables with the controller chips do operate pretty reliably! Most if not all will not display actual ink usage and will show carts as always full. I can not speak for the 3880 but the inkjetfly option for the 3800 only requires the MK and PK chips. The rest of the colors do not need a chip and they only run with the included controller chip. They always show as full. But the difference is they provide you with an always empty maintenance cart chip. Although I've found that the OEM chips is actually turned into an always empty chip as well. You can take apart the top of the maintenance cart when saturated and replace the insides with absorbent material of your choice. I by hydrophilic absorbent pads and cut them to size to fit the cart body.

If you were in the USA I could set you up with a set of chips for the 3880 if you needed them.
Joe

 

[costadinos]

If you were in the USA I could set you up with a set of chips for the 3880 if you needed them.
Joe

Thanks for the inkjetfly carts tip, I'll probably give those a try, since they also mention that their chips are the "always full" type and they can be refilled without removing them from the printer.

Any chance you can send the chips to Cyprus? (they are so small a regular mail envelope would be enough). I got a good deal from the local Epson rep for an open box 3880, practically new, but with no cartridges, so I'll need to get the chips from elsewhere.

 

[pharmacist]

Hi Costadinos: I have a a set of the Inkjetfly Always full chips for the Epson Pro 3800.....but they are incompatible to the Epson Pro 3880. I have tested them on my my new Epson Pro 3880 and the printer says no....

 

[costadinos]

Hi Costadinos: I have a a set of the Inkjetfly Always full chips for the Epson Pro 3800.....but they are incompatible to the Epson Pro 3880. I have tested them on my my new Epson Pro 3880 and the printer says no....

You are using the refillables from inkrepublic with your 3880, right? Do those require all nine OEM chips or just two of them like the inkjetfly carts?
Not having to do the reset procedure every time ink gets low would be another plus with the inkjetfly carts...

 

[pharmacist]

I have them both. The Inkjetfly carts (Big Foot) with Always full chips for the Epson Pro 3800 cannot be used on the Epson Pro 3880. The Inkrepublic's ones do need 7 of your own + 2 of the supplied tuning chips (can be any combination). Other systems need all 9 OEM chips. The big advantage of the Inkrepublic I-refill system is the ability to reset the waste ink chip as well.

 

[costadinos]

I have them both. The Inkjetfly carts (Big Foot) with Always full chips for the Epson Pro 3800 cannot be used on the Epson Pro 3880. The Inkrepublic's ones do need 7 of your own + 2 of the supplied tuning chips (can be any combination). Other systems need all 9 OEM chips. The big advantage of the Inkrepublic I-refill system is the ability to reset the waste ink chip as well.

What's your opinion on these two, are they reliable? I haven't used refillables with printers such as the 3880 (with the vacuum ink pumping system and stationary carts) in the past, and I am a bit concerned about the flow of the ink inside the cartridges and the possibility of introducing air in the system due to bad design.
Would you recommend either of these two for heavy continuous printing (like tens of A3/A2 sheets in one go)?

 

[pharmacist]

In my opinion the Inkrepublic's I-refill system is the best due to some design features:

-very sturdy silicone based ink valve seal (not the flimsy and thin rubber membrane of the smaller cartridges)
-more robust material (note: these cartridges are continously under pressure, so any leak can be desastrous)
-advanced reset system, capable to reset the waste ink tank chip as well
-special pressurizing valve built-in, so the cartridges will maintain pressure for a long time even when removed from the printer. This pressure is necessary to feed ink into the printer more steadily.

The only con is the size of the cartridges: you cannot close the ink door (see my avatar left). You might have read my reviews in the past, where I have tested several refillable systems and time after time these large Inkrepublic I-refill cartridges were more reliable compared to the other systems. These carts are also sold by Inkjetcarts.us and formerly by Conecolor.com as well. I think there is a British supplier as well.

The problem is finding a good ink. Despite the satisfactory quality for all-purpose-printing, refill inks from Image Specialists, OCP, Inkrepublic, there is still the problem with the gloss differential of the magenta inks. If you print matte, then OCP K3 Vivid is unbeatable in terms of printing quality and price. Inkrepublic's IRK4-nano is better in terms of gloss differential and better black, but is more expensive, but there is still the problem with a muted magenta. I have tried Image Specialists too, but the magenta was horrible and very matte in comparison to the magenta from OCP and Inkrepublic, which still has some glosss in it.

You might try to obtain dye ink to get superior gloss at the expense of much less archival properties of your prints.

 

[jtoolman]

costadinos If someone here can provide 100% that the chips will work with controller chip type carts even where declared EPMTY and then I reset them with a 3800 / 3880 cart chip and Maint Tank Chip resetter, I would send you a set.
However, a warning here. This are chips from empties I've purchased for my experimental refilling! All the carts ( over 40 ) I've have put aside, did NOT reset so the 3800 could accept them. It says that I am using NON OEM carts and gives me an option to accept that the are not OEM. I assume they could be use after you accept.
Now, will they work along side the 9 controller chips or the older inkrepublic system? I have not a clue!

Now here is a bit of extra information. If you think that VM and VLM chips will not be accepted by a 3800, you'd be wrong. In my batch of 42 carts I received about 10 vivid and light vivid magentas. I did manage to reset a couple of both magentas. The chips can be used in lieu of the regular magenta chip. The PRO3800 will happily accept it.

In fact I've profiled my PRO3800 to print with Vivid Magentas and it is doing so beautifully.
I have a ton of OEM Vivid and Vivid light Mag and only on R2880 to use it on. So that's why I did this experiment.
Now since I can refill my OEM T58 carts, I simply took a resetted pair of Vivid magenta carts and carefully cut off the tabs that identify the carts as vivid so I could insert them into the PRO3800 regular magenta slots without physical interference. Then you refill them with VM and as I said the chip is accepted without a hitch.

There are other interesting nuggets of information I've discovered concerning these chips best saved for another thread.

So costadinos, if you want to try, I'll tape the 9 chips to a sheet of paper and mail them to you. Send me your address by PM.

Joe