HP Deskjet Ink Advantage 5525 - HP 685

[thanhhuy123]

Hi all,

This thread is to give my own experience regarding using and refilling this newest model of HP inkjet printer.

Inkjet printer
Thermal permanant printhead
4 individual ink cartridges

1. The printhead is non-removable:

Yes, the printhead of this model is permananted and fixed. For manual cleaning, soaking, etc... I treat it as if it were an Epson printhead.
I don't know why HP decided to make the printhead of this model non-removable while their neighbours are all removable...

CMY dye ink droplet is 1.3-5.5pl
K pigmented ink droplet is 14pl

2. HP 685:

HP 685 is a "cooktail" version of HP 564: The HP 685 C, M, and Y is equivalent to HP 564 C,M,Y normal version - it holds 5ml of ink (accroding to the email from HP Support). The HP 685 K is equivalent to HP 564 K XL version - it holds 15ml of ink.

Because the K is of XL version, the cartridge chamber part has the refill hold with a ball and a smaller "mark" which I drilled a very small hold to refill then seal with hot-glue gun.
The CMY doesn't have this refill hole since it's only normal version. So I refill them using the vent hole.

Normally we cannot refill up to that capacity, usually better off 1 or 2ml.

This is my working box:

This is my refill story:

This is the first set of ink I bought. I thought it was ink for my printer, but then I know they're for Epson.

Their websites also doesn't mention detail about the type of ink. It's just kind of general info, like dye ink or pigmented ink. That's all. And when I asked, they said Epson HP Canon...use the same this ink.

I stupidly believed them and use it to refill my cartridge.

First, the pigmented black doesn't work at the very beginning. Only 1 page of print and it come out blank.

I then purged and refilled with dye black. Printout okay and not clog.

After 2 days, my yellow nozzles clogged while all others is fine.
(click on it for fullsize img)



I decided to search for and buy ink exactly for HP, and I found these 2:

These website also confused people when they put pigmented ink in a dye-based category.

I clean and purge my printhead, using the Epson method: paper towel wet with alcohol fold under the printhead, drip alcohol to the ink port.

I purged and refill again my cartridges, by using syringle to inject tap water into the vent hole until it comes out clear. For the K cartridge I also inject water into the drilled hole on the chamber part.
Now the pigmented black work okay, printout can tolerate water. But the yellow nozzle is still kind of streaky half.

This is the newest nozzle check:

(click on it for fullsize img)


(The 2 yellow bars at the bottom is what I tested in Word: draw 2 rectangles, fill with yellow, take out the yellow cartridge, drip some alcohol to the yellow ink port on the printhead - not on the outlet of the cartridge!, reinstall the cartridge, and print with conf: max dpi, hp photo paper - it came out fine.) => Looks like a upper part of the ink port of the printhead is clog due to previous wrong ink?!

[More later...]

 

[rajivsamra]

Dear thanhhuy123

thank you for the lovely post by you.. i have the same model of Hp printer..just wanted to know about your refill your refill is working or not?

 

[thanhhuy123]

Hi @rajivsamra ,

As in my post, the first time I refilled with the wrong ink:: CMY still OEM and K refilled with Epson pigmented: it instantly clogged my pigmented black nozzles.
The second time:: CMY refilled with Epson dye, K refilled with Epson dye black: it works for 3-4 pages then the yellow nozzles clogged, the CM and K was stilling working at that time. (Note that K was dye, not pigmented at that time. Printout still fine but I had to print in simplex, not duplex.)

I decided to purge my printhead to first cure the yellow nozzles and second to wash out all the wrong ink, then I bought InkMate for HP and refilled again. Although CM and K was still working but using the right ink is better! What happen: CM and K worked perfect. Y is still partly clogged. Now I only print in "Black Ink Only" so that my CMY nozzles don't fire.

P/S: Just go refill. And be very careful not to put wrong ink. Use exactly HP ink or at least Canon ink. Never ever use Epson ink, universal/generic ink, or if you're in Vietnam: never buy and use ink that the seller say: use for both Epson and HP - those ink are actually InkMate for Epson and it will clog your nozzles.

 

[thanhhuy123]

What Happened When I Refilled My HP with Epson Ink?
---
First of all, I would like to say that you should never ever do this. I did this accidentally anyway!

If you put Epson ink into an HP printhead, at first your nozzles will work okay, but after only 3-4 pages things gonna worse. The ink will clog your nozzles. And if you continue to print, well, prepare to get a new printhead/printer.

Why? Epson ink is alkaline pH, much thicker, contain less water and cannot tolerate high temp. When put in a thermal printhead, at first, it runs fine. But as the ink is boiled it will leave behind some leftover/dust (what do we call it anyway? My English is bad!). As time goes by, those will get more and more and it will clog the upper part - micro filter (it's a filter to filter the ink one more time before it does to the nozzles. The size of it is even smaller than the size of the nozzle! 1pl maybe), of the ink port of the printhead, or it will clog the lower part - nozzles.

Let's look at this series of nozzle check and you will see:

Yellow nozzles get partly clogged after 4 pages printed with the Epson dye ink.


At this time, if you print in Best mode it's still produce good output due to overlap printing in this mode. But be careful, you are burning your nozzles!


More nozzles are getting clogged.


Now, 90% clogged:


95%:


Now, 99.9% clogged!!! I was panic at that time!


After thorough cleaning the printhead and correct ink, redure to 95% clogged: (The Cyan is contaminated)


After running some more deep cleaning:


==>> Very be careful of the ink you use. If you are in Vietnam like me, be very careful as you may accidentally buy the Epson ink labelled HP!!


How is it when using dye black ink instead of pigmented black?
---
During this accidentally wrong ink use, I also tested the dye black ink in pigmented black cart. Result here:

Ink is not water resist, of course. But the text quality is acceptable, except that it's a little bit too black.


Printing in double-size is not reccommended! Highlighter smear.


You might need to reduce the blackness (in Word for example) to get better output and be able to print in duplex. Remember to use A4 80+ GSM.
Highlighter not smear here because I reduce the blackness: (It also depends on the highlighter as well, some not cause smear, some do!)



How To View The Yellow Nozzle Check Easier? (Without Blue LED!)
---
As you all know, viewing yellow in a nozzle check is quite difficult because of the contrast. To ease it, one in the forum has suggested using blue light from a LED. For me, I don't have blue LED, and I'm using MFP, so I do like this:

1. Scan the image, 200 dpi, A4, color. Save in .jpeg or .jpg. No need for .TIF
2. Use IfranView. Open the image, and invert its color to negative. Now the yellow turn into violet and while into black. If needed, apply Sharpen also.

Example:



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[thanhhuy123]

Which paper I'm using with this printer?
---
I use IK Plus and PaperOne, A4, 80gsm for printing documents, duplex! (PaperOne is slightly better esp. if you're using dye black ink.) There's also PaperOne A4 100gsm, but it's quite thick and may pressure the printer mechanics parts! I rarely use 100gsm except for printing A4 photo/diagram...something with much ink.
I use HP Everyday Glossy Photo paper to print photo. No-name photo paper can also be used. I haven't tried Epson photo paper yet. Anyone tried? Does it work?

 

[thanhhuy123]

Engineering Menu - Secret service menu on this printer
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To access it, touch (although they're not illuminated, just touch, it's working!) Home -> Back -> Home -> Home



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I haven't explore much in this menu, since this printer is new and I don't wanna brick it!!

 

[PeterBJ]

Good job figuring out how to enter the service menu

 

[thanhhuy123]

Keep the Nozzle Clean By Scheduled Printing
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This printer is capable of ePrint and WebApp. If you don't print it a few times per week, you can have the ePrint do it for you. Just register for schedule delivery of any WebApp you like and it will auto print it for you - keep the nozzles from clog also.

Note:

• Printer need to be powered on all the time (you can set the sleep timer to 5 min to have the printer go into sleep mode automatically. Sleep mode consume only ~1W)
• Printer need to be connected to the Internet
• Enough paper in tray

PS: Currently I don't know any means to print the nozzles check by schedule on this printer. Theoretically, printing nozzles check is safer than this because if the nozzles get clogged, it won't burn out. You can temporarily overcome this by schedule a webapp that has short and less content, mostly black content, to print. (I myself prefer MedicalEdge - 90% black, 10% blue), and make sure to eye-check the output yourself!

 

[thanhhuy123]

Tips: When using refill ink, I usually don't use Draft mode, everything except Photo is printed in Normal mode, Black Ink Only. (Color nozzles is prevented from clogging by either manually print nozzle check, or the printer will do a brief cleaning circle every...some times.)

Draft mode do things very quickly and my own observation states that only OEM ink is capable of and is safe to print in this very fast mode. Refill ink (at least the one I'm using) usually don't flow and dry fast enough - it will leave the printhead in an ink starvation state and may fry the nozzles. By the way, Normal mode despite a little bit slower but it deliver better quality, despite more ink consumption but we're refilling ink!

Best mode doesn't make much noticeable different and is much much slower (10 times slower). I don't use this mode except when I print graphics or photo or important documents (CV/Resume for ex. ) on A4 plain paper (using Black Ink Only mode).

 

[stratman]

Excellent posts!

I do not own any HP's but it is good to know about your experiences in case I come across someone who does and wants to refill.

Great job!