How is ink level determined?

[mikling]

Why is it taught that cartridge chips are intelligent and can somehow communicate and have direct access to the printers’ memory, they can’t because its primary task is read only, the printer does all the reading and counting.

The chip receives information from the printer only after the chip is shown to be registering as full, then stage drops occur to 3/4, and half full, all are only estimated ink levels and are not very accrete (guesstimate).

Only when the prism declares a low ink level, does the printer determine accurately the amount of ink left that can be used up safely before it stops and all communications to the chip are declared unreadable and void, you can hold the Resume button in for 5 seconds to continue. ! !

But running with ink monitoring disabled will cause the printer to deliberately use up excessive amounts of ink on cleaning cycles, and without diligent self-monitoring by the owner the printer will cause a fatal error to occur, this is better known as self-destruct mode...

The use of a redsetter will prevent the early demise of your print head and waste pads, by bring the chip back to a useful state and allowing the printer to communicate with it once more and exiting the self-destruct mode...

Well said.
In addition to this when the chip is overriden, the printer writes a bit to the chip indicating that it has been overridden. This set bit is not modified by the resetter at the time of reset and thereafter the ink level is no longer as responsive as originally but will still display the ink level but in a very coarse step function. Like three or so. If it is not overridden, when reset, the resolution is the same as original.
The prism is still active in this mode so the key aspects of the prism is still retained. I don't know id Redsetter overlooked this aspect or whether the set bit is unaccessible.

Just get a resetter like as Hat says like many of the wiser ones do.

Since a few years ago, we've learnt a lot about these machines. I hope some innocents don't get misguided.

 

[mikling]

I seldom ran a printer with ink monitoring disabled (only for a very short time when I was busy printing), so I can't confirm the printer does more cleaning cycles.

It is registered in the EEPROM.

Does this occur on all Canon printers or has it only be observed on particular models ?

This has been observed but not measured precisely. It stands to reason. Why? in the event it is overriden, the Canon engineers strive to protect the printhead by performing more priming to ensure every little bit of ink reaches the nozzles. They do this to protect the consumer and NOT to "scr_w" them as many will profess on the internet. An overridden chip in normal circumstances allows the user to finish a project despite being empty. In the majority of these cases the ink is indeed pretty pretty close to all gone. So the engineers did the right thing.

 

[palombian]

This has been observed but not measured precisely. It stands to reason. Why? in the event it is overriden, the Canon engineers strive to protect the printhead by performing more priming to ensure every little bit of ink reaches the nozzles. They do this to protect the consumer and NOT to "scr_w" them as many will profess on the internet. An overridden chip in normal circumstances allows the user to finish a project despite being empty. In the majority of these cases the ink is indeed pretty pretty close to all gone. So the engineers did the right thing.

Indeed, a printhead is more expensive than ink (even OEM).

So refill and in particular CISS solutions based on what they call "continuous chips" - starting full and indicating ink level until empty, after that you have to push the red button 5 times, IMO exactly what an OEM chip does - risk additional ink consumption and an early "ink absorber full" message.

 

[The Hat]

I ran one of my printers with the ink monitor disabled, I was being very observant at that time, and I witnessed the sheer waste of ink at every turn, more than 50% of the cartridge was run into the Printer Potty, this was totally unstainable so I switched to using one-time chips, I haven’t done that since.

I also used a CISS on an A3 printer and it also preformed numerous cleaning cycles, even during a long print run, and unknown to me at that time were the state of waste ink pads.

Whether it was because the ink monitoring was disabled or just the sheer volume of cleaning cycles, I don’t know but the waste ink pads filled up to the brim unnoticed and no warning, and the purge unit tubing came adrift around the same time, scratch one printer, after I had unnecessarily purchased a new print head...

Learning can be such fun but it can also be mighty expensive...

 

[stratman]

Why is it taught that cartridge chips are intelligent and can somehow communicate and have direct access to the printers’ memory

HP uses the chip to pair specifically with a printer if the user initiates that function. If the cartridge is taken out of that printer and placed in a different printer then the cartridge fails to work and no printing occurs. I came across this while setting up a friend's HP OfficeJet Pro 8710 All-in-One

The printer can also phone home to tell HP to mail out new cartridges without the user lifting a finger. It is slick corporate pickpocketing.

 

[Tin Ho]

HP uses the chip to pair specifically with a printer if the user initiates that function. If the cartridge is taken out of that printer and placed in a different printer then the cartridge fails to work and no printing occurs. I came across this while setting up a friend's HP OfficeJet Pro 8710 All-in-One

The printer can also phone home to tell HP to mail out new cartridges without the user lifting a finger. It is slick corporate pickpocketing.

I am a HP retiree. I can confirm all that...

Try to look at it this way. The chip is a serial EEPROM. It can be read and written. There is nothing else there. Can't fantasize anything fancy from there.

It is where the nozzle firing count is stored. The printer reads it to determine how much ink you have spent. It also has the cartridge ID in it. It knows it is a CLI-42 or a CLI-8. The data in it is encrypted so if you mess it up the printer will say ah who are you? I don't know you.

The EEPROM can not track the ink consumption accurately if there is a leak or the ink dries up a bit. The prism and the IR detector at the bottom comes to stop you from printing if the reservoir is empty but the chip thinks there is still some ink.

No, the printer is not where ink consumption is memorized or kept. The printer reads the chip to get that from the chip then put it on the ink level display.

 

[PalaDolphin]

If you use a resetter and refill each carts to as full as a new OEM cart is then you can treat your fully refilled carts like new OEM carts. The printer will not know the carts are refilled. But this is based on an assumption that the resetter does reset the chip to a state of true emptiness. I don't think anyone really know if the available resetter does that.

Now I'm kicking myself for not measuring and taking photos of the setup carts when I bought the printer. DOH! I didn't even had an idea that a scale would be an important tool when refilling. Can someone please post photos of new OEM carts so I know next time I refill how full to make them?

 

[PalaDolphin]

Try to look at it this way. The chip is a serial EEPROM. It can be read and written. There is nothing else there. Can't fantasize anything fancy from there.

Serial EEPROM means nothing to me. I'm a C/C++ programmer, hardware ignorant. Could you please elaborate what that means to us and why it's important?

 

[mikling]

Indeed, a printhead is more expensive than ink (even OEM).

So refill and in particular CISS solutions based on what they call "continuous chips" - starting full and indicating ink level until empty, after that you have to push the red button 5 times, IMO exactly what an OEM chip does - risk additional ink consumption and an early "ink absorber full" message.

Correct. Those blokes who use CISS with "permanent" overidden chips will have full pads sooner BUT likely will have trashed the printhead before that stage is reached.

 

[mikling]

Now I'm kicking myself for not measuring and taking photos of the setup carts when I bought the printer. DOH! I didn't even had an idea that a scale would be an important tool when refilling. Can someone please post photos of new OEM carts so I know next time I refill how full to make them?

There is no need for a scale unless you get anal about it. The clear cart is all you need. You are looking for complications where there is NONE.