Epson L3150 compatible ink recommendations

[windeguy]

Hello all, This is my first post on this forum, but I have dirtied my fingers for many years with inkjet printers.
I still have an Epson WorkForce 545, but it doesn not want to recognize the cyan "cartridge" of my long working CISS system, but that is for another post. I live in the Dominican Republic and options are limited for what can be purchased locally. I tend to order a lot on Ebay and Amazon, but I now have a locally purchased new printer with a host of questions about it:

I just purchased an Epson L3150 (supposedly the same as a ET2710. It came with ink bottles labelled 544.
It is apparently an Asian/Latin America market printer.

I have some questions:

Are all of the 544 inks dye based ink? Or is the black a pigment ink?

I have a bottle of original Epson ink labelled 504. Will that ink be good in it?

What generic inks will work in it? I see a number of ecotank compatible vendors selling a 502 compatible ink.
How different is that from the 504 ink? Any information on its inks and compatible ones, or mixing them to be compatible is appreciated.

It apparently uses all dye based ink

 

[windeguy]

Some checking in the countries where the Epson L3150 printer is sold show the ink is either 003 or 544 ink.
Mine came with 544 ink, which I think, but am not totally sure, is all dye based ink.

Any thoughts on using generic dye based inks with this printer?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Why would you look for a generic ink - to get ink even cheaper than the budget prices for Epson bottled ink ?

The inks for the L3150 may not give you the best fading resistance , other Epson inks like the 106 inks for the ET7750 can do significantly better, but inks of an unknown origin perform in most cases even worse; if it doesn't matter for you you may look for refill inks for the expression home XP series of printer models which are dye inks.

 

[windeguy]

Thanks, Ink stained Fingers, I actually have generic dye ink left over when I was using in my EPSON WorkForce545 until it failed to recognize one of the CISS colors.

My primary reason for asking the question was to see if that ink would also work in the L3150.

 

[ClarenceL]

Thanks, Ink stained Fingers, I actually have generic dye ink left over when I was using in my EPSON WorkForce545 until it failed to recognize one of the CISS colors.

My primary reason for asking the question was to see if that ink would also work in the L3150.

WorkForce545 original came with

• 4-color DURABrite® Ultra pigment ink

So, what kind of the ink you left from the CISS?

Actually you can use any ink with L3150 when it's brand new.
But if it's already filled, better to wash the tank before refill other different inks.
Especially don't mix dye with pigment.
I just cleanup a clogged black channel on L3110, it's been mixed by dye & pigment black.
I replaced the black ink tank, and took a month to unclogged the printhead.(actually could be shorter, since I finally found a good Solvent.)

544 seems like regional ink number maybe for south america area.
It should be all dye ink & should be the same as 003/T522
https://neofiliac.com/article/1141/epson-ecotank-inks

 

[ClarenceL]

Why would you look for a generic ink - to get ink even cheaper than the budget prices for Epson bottled ink ?

The inks for the L3150 may not give you the best fading resistance , other Epson inks like the 106 inks for the ET7750 can do significantly better, but inks of an unknown origin perform in most cases even worse; if it doesn't matter for you you may look for refill inks for the expression home XP series of printer models which are dye inks.

Besides 106 inks. Would it make sense to use only CMYK inks from other 6 inks models?
Like T673 for L805. Or 552 inks for the ET8550

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Besides 106 inks. Would it make sense to use only CMYK inks from other 6 inks models?
Like T673 for L805. Or 552 inks for the ET8550

The Epson 106 ink has the best fading performance, better than the T673 inks of the L805/L1800, the 114 inks of the ET-8550 are comparable but about 20% more expensive - at least in Germany so it wouldn't make much sense to use those.

If prints are just for short term use - with no regard for longevity you may use other 3rd party dye inks like those for the Epson photo printers - they are cheaper - it works - it prints - but I wouldn't recommend it - you don't know if you get 10% of the longevity performance or only 2% with those inks - there are barely any info available and the seller promises you greatest performance.

Swapping from pigment to dye inks in a Ecotank printer takes a while - I empty the tanks with a syringe - fill the tanks with some cleaner with 10-20ml and print that down to a minimum and add the dye inks then. You can go and disconnect the tubes at the printhead and suck some cleaner through the tubes instead. I did such actions several times with L800/805/L1800 printers, Epson printheads can handle both dye and pigment inks

 

[ClarenceL]

The Epson 106 ink has the best fading performance, better than the T673 inks of the L805/L1800, the 114 inks of the ET-8550 are comparable but about 20% more expensive - at least in Germany so it wouldn't make much sense to use those.

If prints are just for short term use - with no regard for longevity you may use other 3rd party dye inks like those for the Epson photo printers - they are cheaper - it works - it prints - but I wouldn't recommend it - you don't know if you get 10% of the longevity performance or only 2% with those inks - there are barely any info available and the seller promises you greatest performance.

Swapping from pigment to dye inks in a Ecotank printer takes a while - I empty the tanks with a syringe - fill the tanks with some cleaner with 10-20ml and print that down to a minimum and add the dye inks then. You can go and disconnect the tubes at the printhead and suck some cleaner through the tubes instead. I did such actions several times with L800/805/L1800 printers, Epson printheads can handle both dye and pigment inks

Unfortunately, in my area. Epson never announce ET-77xx or ET85xx. So only T673 available.
Anyway, I would try what I can get. The target is for better gamut volume.
The 106 ink might be harder to get, need to bought from China or Japan(but usually much expensive)

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Unfortunately, in my area. Epson never announce ET-77xx or ET85xx. So only T673 available.

I regret that Epson is not interested to sell you their latest products which is causing you quite a problem

Anyway, I would try what I can get. The target is for better gamut volume.

The gamut of different inks - on the same paper - does not vary very much, it is much more the paper defining
the gamut you can acheive with a particular ink, the best papers are glossy photo papers of the PE/RC type - sandwiched with very thin PE foil on both sides and a resin coating - RC - the Canon and Epson glossy papers are of this type, cheaper 3rd party clossy papers may be cast-coated - CC - and the backside has a more fibrous structure. Such CC-papers have a lower gamut and in most cases a weaker blackpoint than PE/RC papers.
So yes - you can get pretty much the same gamut with 3rd party inks, I use them myself knowing their limits but I do not recommend them as explained above, there are too many types and sorts on the market of unkown origin, and some may cause other problems like clogging after a while , deposits in the ink bottle from missing filtering. You run full risk for a small saving.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I don't know if you hve access to the newer Canon tank printers - numbers vary , as well the numbers for their inks - like G550 - G520 - G570 with inks GI-53 - GI-23 - GI-73 and probably more around the world.

https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/canon-photo-tank-system-printers.14638/post-130723

This printer model runs with a Canon dye ink Chromalife 100 which is pretty much similar in performance to the Epson 106 ink - it has about the same fading performance and a similar gamut , and is a pretty good bottled ink and affordable. Yes - Canon inks run in Epson printers without problems - even pigment inks but not the other way around.

Do not look for the inks of the lower end Canon inktank printers, they have very poor longevity.