Keep your printer turned on 24/7 or power it down after every use?

[The Hat]

Q. any ballpark #s on how much ink is used for a nozzle check ?

Practically none... And in my estimationin, unmeasurable..

I have fitted a Printer Potty on all my pigment ink printers, and with this device you can see, tell and weigh any ink that is pushed out as waste ink while the printer is cleaning, and you’d be surprised just how little that can be.

I have just started up my Pro 9500 after it had been put into hibernation many months ago, remember this printer had no power to it at all, so it was programed to do heavy maintenance cycle on start-up and I also installed a new print head.

I went through the usual routine of installing all reset and refilled carts, then printed a nozzle print which I wasn’t happy with because the yellow and cyan carts looked like they were not preforming adequately..

I changed them for two other carts which had been filled more than a year ago and the printer did another cleaning cycle, then I did another nozzle check, and all was well..

I proceeded to print 10 test prints just to make sure that all the carts were supplying sufficient ink to handle any print job that I may give it and halfway through the print run it did another cleaning cycle..

So now all of this waste ink flowed into the empty Printer Potty and when I weight the contents it came to 4 grams, (4 Mill) that’s for ten cartridges, so anyone can do their Maths and work out just how much ink was used up or wasted.. Less than half a Mill per cartridge.. The cart hold 15 ml..

Now no matter how you judge a printer for the amount of waste ink it produces, its only protecting the very expensive print head you have installed, so what’s the cost of a little OEM ink compared to the price of a print head, and in my case there are no more print head to be got..
P.S. The biggest saving you can do is to change all carts when one cart is showing low ink, because this will prevent the waste ink pads from filling up for years.. But no in my case..

 

[The Ninth]

I don't believe for a moment that leaving a Canon printer always on saves any ink at all. My Maxify stays most of the time totally disconnected from the mains power. Instead, my Pro10 stays off, but connected by cable to the power outlet. The Maxify performs less cleanings than the Pro10 or any other Canon printer I owned in the past.

I have not analyzed this myself, but from what I saw in articles and reviews when I got the PRO-1000 it seemed to me the consensus is that leaving it on saves ink. When powered off and then powered on the printer is supposed to run a larger cleaning cycle, while when left on, the cleaning cycle will depend on last time used and might be smaller.

The only thing I got against leaving the printer on 24/7 is the lifespan of the print head, as far as I can tell it shortens it, so be aware of that, Canon don’t build in timed automatic shut downs for nothing..

Hmmm, interesting. Why do you think that an unused but on printer would put more stress on the print head than one that is turned off? But since my print head just did a few weeks ago, I am not sure if I can argue with the point, but it would be interesting for me to understand why.

 

[Artur5]

Your Pro1000 and most modern Canon printers of medium-high level have an internal battery that stores basic data ( actual clock time and others). Leaving it off doesn't resets the time and the printer knows when the last cleaning was performed. Naturally, if it was long time ago, when you sent a print job to the machine it will perform a huge cleaning cycle, not because it has remained off but because of the time elapsed since the last cleaning.
Agreed that this printer is a high end Prograff model and maybe behaves different, if compared to the Pro10-100-200 series or the multifunction office models. I'm only guessing, but it seems illogical that switching off/on the machine triggers a massive cleaning cycle. Of course the Pro-1000 is known for being ink hungry so, who knows ?.

 

[The Hat]

I have not analyzed this myself, but from what I saw in articles and reviews when I got the PRO-1000 it seemed to me the consensus is that leaving it on saves ink. Hmmm, interesting. Why do you think that an unused but on printer would put more stress on the print head than one that is turned off? but it would be interesting for me to understand why.

The problem with these articles and reviews are the people writing them, they either can have a hidden bios again particular printers or Brands and they may have also pick up the usual myths surrounding these BIG cleaning cycles.

A printer left plugged in to power and on standby (Turned off with the On/Off button) will do smaller cleaning cycles that one that has had the power to it removed completely, but the amounts that are used are very minuscule, 1 or 3 ml. divided into 12 carts !

I am unlike most others, in a position to say that all these huge cleaning cycles are just here say, yes the printer does waste ink cleaning but it must keep the print head in good condition and ready for use, and the paper used for high quality photos is far more expensive than the ink wasted, (The other side of the same coin)

Leaving your printer on 24/7 is not recommend by Canon and they do provide a timed option in the their software for auto switch off, because there can be a problem of static build up over time in the printer that can directly hit the logic board that can knock out the printer..

 

[Kormak]

I have a Pixma printer and it's connected to the outlet but not turned on when not in use. Does this count?

My setup cl541 and 540 carts clogged when I didn't print for two weeks. But after unclogging and leaving the powercable in but printer off after each use. I could leave it for twwo weeks and be fine. But it could be just me. I print every few days now.

 

[The Ninth]

Your Pro1000 and most modern Canon printers of medium-high level have an internal battery that stores basic data ( actual clock time and others). Leaving it off doesn't resets the time and the printer knows when the last cleaning was performed.

Makes sense, probably you are right!

Leaving your printer on 24/7 is not recommend by Canon and they do provide a timed option in the their software for auto switch off, because there can be a problem of static build up over time in the printer that can directly hit the logic board that can knock out the printer..

Do you maybe have a source for that? I‘d be interested to read up on Canon‘s position in the topic. Just spend more than 800 Euro to get my print head replaced and would be happy to change how I treat the printer if it extends its life span.

 

[The Hat]

Just spend more than 800 Euro to get my print head replaced and would be happy to change how I treat the printer if it extends its life span.

Here are two Canon setting that can extend the life of your print head..
They can be found in the Printing Preferences section under Maintenance..

 

[The Ninth]

Here are two Canon setting that can extend the life of your print head..
They can be found in the Printing Preferences section under Maintenance..
View attachment 14821View attachment 14823

Thanks! Activated the auto power now, and it works well. So far I also don‘t get any impression of additional cleaning cycles when the printer powers on.

Do you know what the quiet mode actually changes, and how that affects the print head?

 

[The Hat]

Do you know what the quiet mode actually changes, and how that affects the print head?

Quite Mode is what it says it is, the machine get a bit less noisier when in operation, but the other advantage is, the printer runs a bit slower and this puts less strain on the print heads electronics, by keeping down the heat just a tad..

 

[Artur5]

You're right, quiet mode must be good for the lifespan of printheads, but I think your words 'a bit slower' are an understatement. On my Maxify quiet mode is very slow. It takes three times longer than normal mode to finish a print job.