Refilling Question

[ghwellsjr]

...I do know it works on the current Canon printer I am using, just went through it myself this week...

What actually did you do to convince yourself that the optical sensor was working on your printer?

 

[Bertil]

Can you freedom refill method be used for CLI and BCI cartridges-by just dropping ink into them?It doesnt matter if the procedure is timeconsuming.I have plenty of time.
Thanks in advance.Bertil

 

[The Hat]

ghwellsjr
Actually, if you have a cartridge in your printer with an empty reservoir so that the printer is showing the "yellow" warning,
you don't even have to refill it to show a full level, just remove it from your printer, close the lid and the printer will think it has a full cartridge.

I tried that and indeed it does show on screen that the cartridge is once more full, however if you reinsert the same cartridge again
the printer will put up the yellow warning notice for that particular cartridge.

If you try this with a cartridge that is very low on ink and the printer has not showed the yellow ink warning yet
then replace the cartridge with a new full one the printers on screen ink monitor will continue to show that cartridge is almost empty
but wont bring up the yellow warning till the reservoir in that cartridge is eventually empty. (BCI-6)

In fact if you continue to do this with all of your cartridges it stops the printer from
performing unnecessary cleaning cycles on chipped and non chip cartridges.
It's a win win situation..

 

[ghwellsjr]

Yes, it is a win win situation. The point is that these older printers cannot tell the difference between no cartridge and a cartridge with any amount of ink in the reservoir. And they can't tell the difference between a cartridge that has just emptied its reservoir and one that has been empty for a long time and may be ready to issue a red warning. So if you remove a cartridge that has been in the printer for a long time and has an unknown amount of ink used from the sponge side, and close the lid, and reinsert the cartridge, the printer will think that it has just entered the yellow low state and will not warn you when the cartridge needs replacing.

But this suggests the easiest refill method for these older printers: don't bother refilling the reservoir side of the cartridge, just dribble ink into the outlet port of the overturned cartridge until ink just starts to migrate into the white part of the sponge (if it's still white) or until ink starts to flow into the gap at the top of the sponge (now at the bottom of course). Then reset the ink counter for that color by closing the lid and after you reinsert the cartridge, it will keep track of when you need to refill again. If you keep a supply of empty cartridges to reset all the counters, you can refill all the cartridges in your printer whenever any one of them shows empty.

I don't actually use this method but sometimes I'm tempted.

 

[mikling]

OK, I will bring this up as I had a perfect test in the waiting......

I had an original CLI-8 Cyan that was never refilled etc. etc. It had been sitting there for all these years partially used. So I decided it was time to clear the space and use it out. From all the insertions and testing etc. for some reason, the chip reading had stayed high above 70% but the tank was PHYSICALLY low.
So when this thread ensued and I was asked to confirm the working of the prism, I thought this was perfect for two reasons. I would keep an eye on it AND it would illustrate that sometimes chips can be drastically wrong in the levels for odd circumstances.

Well tonight I finally saw the prism kick in. This morning when I checked the chip reading was reading over 50%.
Tonight I got the warning that the ink was running low.

So let's recap, this morning the tank was physically close to empty but the prism had not kicked in. Reading on ink monitor was easily over 50%.
Tonight. The prism kicked in AND the ink monitor level was forced down to around 10%.

So when the prism kicks in, the chip count is overridden and forced down to around 10%.

Thus my conclusion is that the chip AND prism does work in normal situations and will correct inaccurate estimates when the chips initially estimates incorrectly. When the chip is working, the PRISM does work as well.

 

[The Hat]

Congratulations mikling for clearing up the big question for once and for all.
I too have a CLI-8 cartridge on test for the very reason but it has not got to a point where any low ink warning has showed yet
and the chip is still registering full, you have bet me to it.

This just means that when you reset the chip then refill the reservoir in your cartridge
it wont matter how much ink youve putting in,
youll still get the customary low ink warning notice anyway when the reservoir is empty again..

 

[stratman]

Mikling's test is good but we should have more than n=1 sample, preferably from others and on different models, before making final conclusions. I recall people who reset the chip and began using the cartridge with no or low ink in the spongeless side did not report an expected low ink warning in a time frame one would anticipate if the prism was functioning. I'm not yet prepared to override numerous past reports on the forum without multiple new verifications.

Please keep your test going and report your observations The Hat.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Stratman, it may be that the warning goes away after you ignore it or dismiss it. I have gotten similar warnings on my HP309a that I didn't understand. Now I think it may be the same thing. I notice that not all the cartridges have prisms, however. I'll have to check which ones.

 

[mikling]

Remember that there is a possibility that if the chip reading is showing full or close to it and the prism is reading empty, there could be an override logic. Not sure at all on this. However, when I reported on this initially, the magenta had done the same thing pretty high level maybe a little less than 50% then a low warning. The Cyan makes for a sample of two for me that was closely monitored.
The tank must be completely empty for the prism to work.

Now there is one thing that I remember, I was messing with ARC chips at one time, and I did not get a warning that my cartridge was empty when it in fact was. So there might be something that if the chip reading is very high or close to full or full, the prism is ignored for a period. Thus a reset with an empty cartridge might not trigger the prism and this might be intentional. So when testing, try getting the chip down to around 50%, leave a bit of ink on the tank side and then let it run down normally. This would mimic potential real conditions I think.

 

[stratman]

Remember that there is a possibility that if the chip reading is showing full or close to it and the prism is reading empty, there could be an override logic. Not sure at all on this. However, when I reported on this initially, the magenta had done the same thing pretty high level maybe a little less than 50% then a low warning. The Cyan makes for a sample of two for me that was closely monitored.
The tank must be completely empty for the prism to work.

I have considered this as well. It all makes for an interesting puzzle.

So when testing, try getting the chip down to around 50%, leave a bit of ink on the tank side and then let it run down normally. This would mimic potential real conditions I think.

I recall you suggesting this good exercise to me before. I am waiting for these conditions to be met so I can try it. I also will need to remember to do it, which will be the most difficult thing in the whole experiment for me.