My MAXIFY 5350 is on refill ink

[palombian]

Hi @steven.va,

You didn't tell how many pages you printed with the BK in total, but I suppose it will be around 2000 based on the low ink indication.
With my refillable cartridges I observed the same as you described, and the next day the ink monitor showed the red cross.
The cartridge was empty until the last drop.

Since the Maxify cartridge has no physical ink level detection system, but a monitoring of the ink flow in the printhead, we could suppose the cartridge empty indication (needed for an "official" change) is triggered by either the chip downcount or the lack of ink flow, or some combination.

If this is correct you should be able to obtain a red cross by cleanings of the BK channel (maximum 2 without sufficient wait).

I even believe the printer starts a cleaning cycle on it's own when it detects ink flow problems (it is sold as an office printer, you can't expect users should bother about nozzle checks etc).

So if your printer doesn't make up his mind soon you maybe better pull the cartridge.

Keep us informed.

 

[steven.va]

Hi Palombian.

Thank you for the good ideas!
Too bad they did not include a Prism like into the BCI3 / BCI6 carts

Anyway, today I switched on the Maxify and printed a nozzle check. (I had not print anything since my last post and this reply - I only print Nozzle checks and nothing alse with
a blocked print head)

--> It stops with error 5200.
Hmm we are on to something.
I'll think I am going to pull (and weigh) the BK cart.

Greetings!

 

[steven.va]

After the error 5200, I pulled the BK cart.
Weight: 69 gr. See picture. I think this cart has very little weight...?

I installed a new BK cart and the Error 5200 dissapeared.
After installing it did it's cleaning cycle. The Maxify is happy again .

If this conclusion is right: even with an OEM cart the chip can be inaccurate.
"Real" empty before the chip is "Virtually" empty.

Greetings

 

[The Hat]

If this conclusion is right: even with an OEM cart the chip can be inaccurate.
"Real" empty before the chip is "Virtually" empty.

Since switching to the Chinese refillable carts, I don’t have any more problems, I keep all the carts topped up and ignore the ARC chips, but remember not to over fill them...

 

[palombian]

I checked an empty OEM BK: 62g.
Probably the error 5200 is caused by missing ink flow.

Since the ARC's count down faster than the ink in the refillable carts (in particular the CMY) I continue to follow them.
I let the printer present the empty cartridge, top it up, and the ARC resets.

When you top up too early they do not reset and the indicated level is out of phase and of no use.
In that case you can as well run with non-resettable chips.
The printer doesn't seem to care about chips showing empty ("virtually empty").

 

[steven.va]

Hi,

@palombian:
Thanks for checking the weight. Indeed that confirms it would be pretty empty.

Now that I think about it - from a user perspective - it might be
a good thing that the Chinese refillabels hold more ink.
Nor for the extra ink per sé, but at least one does not run in into an empty cart before
the chips runs out: 'from a user perspective' no 'strange' error messages like error 5200, BXXX.

Greetings!

 

[palombian]

All three colors were showing empty almost together this time, so I opened the front and replaced and refilled the cartridges one by one following the printer dialog.

The printer does a cleaning cycle afterwards.
ARC's resetted to full.

I had to refill 22g after 1050 pages (since 25% are double-side this makes 1300p, not far from indicated by Canon).
I use the ink made for the Maxify by octopus-office.de. When you live in Europe the best and most economic choice IMO (they even sell cheaper from Inktec).

Forget most of what you know/fear from other Canon printers !

The ink is monitored with an ink flow detector in the printhead, the countdown in the chips is for information only.

This means that the printer sees itself when one of the colours is missing on the nozzle check and does a cleaning, you do not have to initiate one yourself (before important jobs I launch one or several nozzle checks until it is OK, the printer does a short cleaning just in case).

Also, when the chip count is down and a red cross is shown, as long as there is still ink in the cartridge (as the refillables have a higher volume than the OEM's) you can continue to print.
OTH when the cart is empty before the chip has counted down, it will override the chip count (and/or give an empty ink error).

I use autoreset chips for the convenience of the indication and refilling the official way (without forcing cartridge removals).
But you also can forget the chips and refill all carts together from time to time.
You even don't have to buy refillables, the OEM's (also the setup carts) can be refilled with a small tool (you can make yourself if you want):

https://www.octopus-office.de/info/...n/canon-pgi-1500-pgi-2500-refill-instruction/

PS:
- this is valid for my B5350 with firmware 2.030
- be sure to block firmware updates
- your EXPERIENCE with OTHER MODELS/FIRMWARES much appreciated on this forum

 

[Redbrickman]

Great info Palombian - thanks

On mine I have never seen the red cross as I just refill when a cart show the warning triangle. So far it has worked really well with the Chinesium ARC carts

 

[palombian]

Great info Palombian - thanks

On mine I have never seen the red cross as I just refill when a cart show the warning triangle. So far it has worked really well with the Chinesium ARC carts

Strange, my carts do not show the yellow warning sign, but a ? (question mark).
After next power up this turns into the red cross.
I suppose your chips reset when in the "warning triangle' status ?

The "new Chinese" carts work well, no ink mixing or leak problems anymore (no printing for 3 weeks, but automatic power on/off schedule).

 

[The Hat]

I’ve yet to hear of any complaints about the Maxify, its such a good printer and its ideal for someone that want all the bells and whistles...