How much ink does my canon ink cartage hold

[Zap]

I am using the PG-245, PG-245XL, ink Cartage's in my Canon MG2520 printer. On recent Research with Canon, I find that the PG-245 holds 8 ml ink, The PG-245XL holds 8.4 ml ink, or half again as much ink as the PG-245.

Now My printer MG2520 Canon printer also list for use in this printer the PG-243 ink Cartage. Canon tells me that the PG-243 Cartage holds 5.6 ml of ink, and the Cartage is slightly larger than the PG-245 Cartage.
It seems though that the PG-243 Cartage is ONLY available from Canon. The Canon agent I spoke with had not heard of the PG-243 Cartage until I asked about it, then came up with the information by doing his own research, and checking with his supervisor. The PG-243 Cartage holds only 5.6 ml ink.

I read on one forum that the man ordered a PG-245 Cartage from Canon and received the PG-243 Cartage. He should send it back as it is not not the same, and does not hold as much ink. Canon list the PG-245 at a cost of $17.99, 8ml ink, and the PG-243 at a cost of 15.99, 5.6ml of ink. - - - - Hope this helps someone.

 

[PeterBJ]

I think something doesn't add up. Do you have some links with capacities and prices?

Normally Canon XL cartridges hold 50% more ink than the standard cartridges and the price is also +50% for the XL version of the cartridges.

But the capacities specified are nominal, meaning the amount of ink used in the production of the cartridges. Not all this ink can be used in printing, so the useful capacity is lower. This means that by using XL cartridges you get more than +50% page yield making the use of XL cartridges more economical.

If the standard PG-245 cartridge holds 5.6 ml, then the PG-245XL cartridge should hold about 8.4 ml. If the standard PG-243 holds the standard 5.6 ml of ink but is priced like the PG-245XL cartridge, it certainly is no bargain. Could some info be wrong?

Canon has an ink subscription systen Canon Easy ink delivery, similar to HP's Instant ink. Could the PG-243 cartridge be a PG-245 cartridge intended for the ink subscription?

 

[Zap]

I think something doesn't add up. Do you have some links with capacities and prices?

Normally Canon XL cartridges hold 50% more ink than the standard cartridges and the price is also +50% for the XL version of the cartridges.

But the capacities specified are nominal, meaning the amount of ink used in the production of the cartridges. Not all this ink can be used in printing, so the useful capacity is lower. This means that by using XL cartridges you get more than +50% page yield making the use of XL cartridges more economical.

If the standard PG-245 cartridge holds 5.6 ml, then the PG-245XL cartridge should hold about 8.4 ml. If the standard PG-243 holds the standard 5.6 ml of ink but is priced like the PG-245XL cartridge, it certainly is no bargain. Could some info be wrong?

Canon has an ink subscription systen Canon Easy ink delivery, similar to HP's Instant ink. Could the PG-243 cartridge be a PG-245 cartridge intended for the ink subscription?

Yes, on the link with Canon. I called their phone number and spoke with one of their agents. It is this agent which gave me the Ink quantity in each of these cartridges, according to his computer, along with the price which Canon sells them directly to you. As I said, Their agent said that the pg245 cartridge held 8ml of ink, and True that the pg245xl holds 8.4ml of ink. He then calculated the cost per ml in comparison of the two cartridges, (acording to Canon's prices. )

The pg243 cartridge is a beast of it's Own with His stated ink capacity of 5.6ml.

Now that being said, with all else being equal, Only the printing capacity of the pg245 and pg245xl was compared. This agent stated that the pg245 should print 250 pages, and the pg245xl should print 300 pages. The page being the standard business model. According to His computer info. Why this difference in the number of pages they expect you to print with each cartridge, I do not have a clue, only that this is the figures given to me. I would think it different, --- The actual pages you can print increaces when you bypass the counting of pages printed by the computer. When it says the cartridge is empty, press and hold the "STOP" button for 5 + seconds and then you can print until the printing starts to streak (run out of ink) This greatly increses how many pages you can print.

For myself, it is much more economical for me to buy the pg245 cartridge at the lowest price I can find it, and then to Refill. I got 19 refills on my last cartridge before it died.

The result is that with the given ink capacity, as bought, then it would take three (3) of the pg245 cartridges to equil the same amount of ink as Two (2) of the pg245xl cartridges. Now that being so, it all depends on where you buy your ink from as to what your own cost would be. I calculate that the cost (using Canon's selling price) of 3 of the pg245 would be $3.97 MORE for the same amount of ink that you would get with 2 of the pg245xl

Now that I have thourly confused you, lets try again. The numbers DO add up.

 

[stratman]

The PG-245 holds 8 ml and the PG-245XL holds 12 ml. No way Cannon squeezes an additional 120 pages printed (300 total pages of the XL versus 180 pages total from the regular sized cartridge per Canon's stated page counts) out of an additional 0.4 ml ink you posted for the XL.

The following web site states 10 ml for the 245 and 18 ml for the 245XL for refilling purposes: http://www.printerfillingstation.com/Refill-Instructions/Canon/C45.htm

A video I watched said that the sponge is a factor in refilling such that you may only be able to refill with 6 ml ink without spillage in the PG-245.

It seems though that the PG-243 Cartage is ONLY available from Canon.

A Google search shows otherwise.

Are you positive it was proper representative of Canon you were speaking with and not the cleaning service?

 

[Zap]

The PG-245 holds 8 ml and the PG-245XL holds 12 ml.

The following web site states 10 ml for the 245 and 18 ml for the 245XL for refilling purposes: http://www.printerfillingstation.com/Refill-Instructions/Canon/C45.htm

A video I watched said that the sponge is a factor in refilling such that you may only be able to refill with 6 ml ink without spillage in the PG-245.


A Google search shows otherwise.

I do have to note that the physical size of both the 245 and the 245xl are exactly the same. Therefore the sponge is the exact same size, and thus they both can hold the exact same amount of ink on a refill. But since on refilling, there is still some ink in the sponge and also down in the jet area, the amount of ink that can be used on a refill will vary. The only way that you, or I, can really know how much ink that either one can hold, would be to pop the cap off, pull the sponge out, rinse all the ink out, then dry the sponge before putting it back, refilling as much as it will hold.... Then, and only then, can you find out how much ink that the sponge is capable of holding. Now I have not done that, but I have had the top off of a 245 and a 245xl, and filled them that way. But the top Must be re-secured tightly, because it is used to hold the cartridge into the printer.

 

[stratman]

I do have to note that the physical size of both the 245 and the 245xl are exactly the same.

If the external dimensions are the same as you say, what about their internal characteristics? This may account for different fill amounts.

Unless the 245XL chips trigger some sort of significant ink saver function, or the definition of page coverage is altered, there is no way an additional 0.4 ml ink in the XL can print an additional 120 pages as per Canon. Otherwise, look for a class action lawsuit.

 

[PeterBJ]

Both Canon and HP don't like to state the capacity in ml for their ink cartridges. Instead they specify a page yield using some standard document. Different sellers often state different capacities. I don't think some of them lie, but official capacities in ml are hard to find and different sources might state different amounts of ink for the same cartridge types.

The PG-245(XL) cartridges are known in Europe as PG-545(XL). Here a Danish seller states the regular cartridge has a capacity of 8 ml and the XL version has a capacity of 15 ml. The prices are in Danish Kroner. 7 DKK approximately equals 1 USD.

One way to limit the ink amount in the standard cartridge compared to the XL cartridge is to fill in less ink at the manufacture. Canon might have used this technique in the Standard capacity PG40/CL41 cartridges. Here are the sponges from dry and never refilled cartridges I popped open to clean the sponges and nozzles, notice that it looks like the cartridges were not filled more than half or two thirds, when refilling you can fill in more ink to fill the sponges 100%:

Another way to limit the capacity of the standard cartridges is using partitions to seal off a part of the sponge compartment and use smaller sponges with a lower capacity. This method is often used by HP. Probably Canon does the same with newer cartridges:

 

[stratman]

@PeterBJ - Nice post.

 

[CakeHole]

Great post @PeterBJ I have actually wondered though why the manufacturers pull this stunt though.

I mean they are saving all of what must at most be around 5ml of ink per cart, which must hardly save them anything financially especially when they are making or buying ink probably by millions if not thousands of gallons a time.

An extra 5ml probably would not even cost them half a penny. It probably cost them more to have a different machine/mould for the carts with the different partition in and time to cut a different sized sponge. OR if that doesnt cost more the time in researching different ink formulas (Epson and their must be near a dozen different ink types as an example) must cost them more.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

the game is not to put a few more millilitres into the cartridge or not , the game is to reap the maximum profit from the customers, and reducing the actual contents - whether it's inks here or potatoe chips in plastic bags is quite a popular game by lots of companies