Monitoring cartridges

[mrelmo]

after filling and resetting cartridges (with a resetter) several times the most recent experence happened, the cyan on my 4200, did not flash and the canon software did not report a low or empty cartridge, when i viewed the ink status via canon ink details window it showed the cartridge as being about 50% full. however the resevior was empty and the prism was fully exposed, what i am getting at is, continue to visually monitor your cartridges so you don't burn up a print head, do not completely rely on the monitoring software to warn you. i am sure that i was under the impression that the cartridge was fully filled the last time i filled it, however if the sponge did not absorb the full amount it needed the setting are going to be wrong, so i do not think the prism plays as much a part in determining if the cartridge is empty or not.
also here is a photo of the container that i use for storing cartridges it is a lock and lock container that you can get at walmart for about $4.00 there are many different sizes but this 1 is great for 1 set of cartridges and it has a rubber gasket on the cover. there is a styrofoam block to take up the extra room

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/uploads/2123_20081008_0312.jpg


http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/uploads/thumbs/2123_20081008_0311.jpg

 

[jackson]

the cyan on my 4200, did not flash and the canon software did not report a low or empty cartridge,

You are saying the re-setter did not properly reset the chip and the prism monitoring failed?
So even a "normal" (not resetted) defective chip is not backed up by the prism?

 

[mrelmo]

the resetter did reset the chip, the cartridge light is on, no warnings of low ink, i believe that either i did not fill the cartridge completely or maybe i filled and reset the cartridge before it was fully empty, either way the cartridge was empty enough this time that there was no ink at the prism, this is the first time this has happened as i have filled and reset cartridges 3 or 4 times since i received my resetter. so i wonder if the prism has any function in chiped cartridges or is the prism design just a carry over from before canon started to use chips

 

[headphonesman]

so i wonder if the prism has any function in chiped cartridges or is the prism design just a carry over from before canon started to use chips

It`s long been my belief that the prism became redundant when Canon introduced the chip procedure for ink levels on the CLI8 carts. Several on Forums have stated that the prism (probably) becomes active in the event that there is a total loss of ink from the cart due to sudden total leakage malfunction .
I have never experienced an ink " out " warning which I could say was due to the operation of the prism on a chipped cart , I too believe it is a carry over in the chip design from the BCI 6 design.

 

[pharmacist]

Headphonesman,

I think you are right. Just look at the latest HP 364 cartridges, which are very similar to the CLI-8/PGI-5 cartriges and they too contain both a chip and a.....prism underneath the cartridge !!! So the prism is probably something necessary for this type of cartridges.