Refilling CLI-551 / PGI-550

[OM2]

I'm looking for best practices to refill CLI-551 / PGI-550 cartridges

I assumed you could get the older transparent carts and swap chips
I looked under the newer cartridges and the underside shape is different
(Do you think someone told Canon??)

Thanks


Omar

 

[The Hat]

Forget it, even if you manage to refill these cartridges which are by the way only start-up cartridges plus you can never ever reset the chip on them.

No other cartridge will fit in these newer printers nor will there be a resetter made for them either so a complete rethink is the only way to go, the good news is there is ink now available for them !

The other option is to use 3rd party cartridges or compatible cartridges that you can refill easy yourself and they come with ARC chips, the OEM cartridges are a bit of a joke.

 

[OM2]

Forget it, even if you manage to refill these cartridges which are by the way only start-up cartridges plus you can never ever reset the chip on them.

No other cartridge will fit in these newer printers nor will there be a resetter made for them either so a complete rethink is the only way to go, the good news is there is ink now available for them !

why wont it ever be possible to reset?
what clever things have canon done?

what's the quality of the 3rd party carts?

thanks

 

[PeterBJ]

why wont it ever be possible to reset?
what clever things have canon done?

I don't know, but single use chips for compatible cartridges do exist. Maybe Canon also developed single use chips.

what's the quality of the 3rd party carts?

I don't know, but here are 3 druckerchannel articles:

http://www.druckerchannel.de/artike...rnativen_zu_den_canon_patronen_pgi_550cli_551

http://www.druckerchannel.de/artike...autoreset_chips_arc_fuer_canon_cli_551pgi_550

http://www.druckerchannel.de/artike...e_nachfuellpatronen_fuer_canon_cli_551pgi_550

Here are Google translations, of the articles.

http://translate.google.dk/translate?hl=da&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=3338&t=tintentest_alternativen_zu_den_canon_patronen_pgi_550cli_551&sandbox=1

http://translate.google.dk/translate?hl=da&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=3446&t=test_kompatible_autoreset_chips_arc_fuer_canon_cli_551pgi_550&sandbox=1

http://translate.google.dk/translate?hl=da&sl=de&tl=en&u=http://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=3429&t=test_kompatible_nachfuellpatronen_fuer_canon_cli_551pgi_550&sandbox=1

 

[OM2]

thanks for the reply
i dont buy the bit about single use carts
the reason why there are 3rd party single use ones is because no one has bothered trying to crack them since it's just not worth it

surely ALL canon chips are meant to 'single' use anyway and are meant to be non-resettable?
i can understand that canon have developed chips that u cant write to
how hard would it be to develop chips that could be reset? u could then simply reset these?

for the compatibles, can u reset the chips??
if not, then one should surely just stick to the original carts?

thanks

 

[The Hat]

The new 551/550 OEM cartridges are fitted with this thin like paper chips and any attempt to try to interfere with them results in malfunction, so the answer is no they just can’t be reset and besides there is not enough room to fit a 3rd party chip to them either.

If you stick with using the OEM cartridges and refill them you can only get about 4 ml of ink into them and with the ink monitoring disabled the printer will use that up in no time on cleaning..

In a nut shell it would be far cheaper to get a much bigger printer than to try and run one of these printers constantly, refillers beware they will only work with compatible cartridges..

 

[OM2]

thanks for the replies
hmm.. so does this mean when buying a new printer, you should *avoid* canon and go with epson for example?
(assuming u cant buy one of the other older models)

normally, i always recommend canon and say forget other models!

 

[The Hat]

This cartridge/Chip thing only effects the 551 / 550 newer printers and no others.

You can buy which ever printer that fits your needs and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a Canon !

 

[OM2]

@The Hat, let me put it another way:

what new printer would you recommend that is easy to refill + gives good prints and lasts a long time?

the answer cannot be canon as they have the new cartridges (i assume)

let me know the answer

thanks

 

[mikling]

My tests for a proper aftermarket cartridge has produced the above.

If you look carefully, you will notice the compression of the sponge where it is marked "Not Here". That is where the sealing clips attach to the cartridge. The aftermarket that did not test well for long term use has the attachment point there. Note constriction causing the detachment from the wall. The indentation squeezes the sponge in a critical ink path. The ones that tested properly have the attachment points where it is shows "Storage Clip". Here the indentation for the attachment point is moved AWAY from the sponge and not causing constriction. This is another and newer design....The obvious question is what were they thinking initially? Seems obvious.

Aftermarket carts can also suffer from air leakage as shown. Canon carts nearly always has that air leakage wall perfectly sealed.

These are the best ones I found that will perform properly even with photo printing. There ARE differences in aftermarkets.

The other thing is when pigment ink is used in the PG channel, the printer should be used at least once a week. Long term storage or non use for weeks sometimes require rinsing out the printhead to reestablish printing properly. The same pigment ink used in Canon carts will have no problems with long term storage and printing afterwards but when the same is done with the aftermarket, some clogging is noted but it is easily; cleared up with a rinse. The underlying reason is the physical properties of the sponge inside the cart looks to be geared more for dye ink rather than pigment. I use it with pigment and just keep the ink moving.

These are the compromises for the aftermarket. With the proper aftermarket, the optical sensor still works and it resets like an Epson only when the optical sensor is triggered and then the countdown starts towards empty. You should refill at warning or optical sensor triggering for retained ink link properties. It will only reset when empty has been reached. Removal and reinsertion prior to empty will not change the ink level chips.

I currently have ICC profiles for the 5 color series with ICC profiles for the 6 color series coming within a month due to time constraints.

With these carts, the new generation of Canon moves back into a recommended category with 4 stars out of 5.