Stopping excessive cleaning cycles on ip4700 Canon.

[wixwix]

Im noticing that my Canon ip4700 does more and more unnecessary cleaning cycles while it is on, almost the whole time infact, and nearly to the stage of doing one after every page or document is printed, even if I've just printed text.

I use the German Method (http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4315) of cartridge refill.

I have found threads similar to my problem:
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5331&p=1
and
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5322

But they don't answer the query in any finite way.

So..

Is it possible to stop all these uncessecary cleaning cycles?
Is the only method to do so by turning off monitoring (disabling), if so, how does one do this, because im struggling to find the right setting to do this. Unless already this is the case because I have forced cartridge replacement off so that it wont assume the inks are out the whole time, so it shows all cartridges as empty on the printer status window. Or is this seperate to ink monitoring? Because what was implied in the other threads is that disabling ink monitoring should also entirely disable these incessant cleaning cycles that make a lot of gurgling and sucking and seem to drain a large percentage of the ink In my cartridges.
If my ink monitoring is already off, then what other option is there?

This is ofcourse assuming that just running manual cleaning cycles when necessary should be enough.

Any advice/help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[The Hat]

wixwix

Turning off ink monitoring on each cartridge when showing empty will help cut down on cleaning cycles but wont eliminate it all together.
The ip4700 is a bit of a bitch for cleaning itself anyway and its all done to force you to buy more ink.
I have a nick name for mine (wasteful Sally)..

 

[qwertydude]

I've owned both the ip4600 and ip4700, I can tell you that one of the major changes that the ip4700 had was that stopping ink monitoring does not stop the endless cleaning cycles like it did with the ip4600. I scrapped my ip4700 because of that, and because printing on the matte setting no longer improves the print quality like before. I've now sworn off Canon because they now have introduced another generation of printers with the ip4820 which seems specifically designed to make refilling a pain with blacked out ink tanks. I'm sure they've no doubt included the unnecessary cleaning cycles so that you have to buy ink on a regular basis regardless of your printing frequency.

 

[MP640]

Hi wixwix. I don't have an IP4700, but an MP640. Nevertheless, maybe this information will be of help to you. I experienced the same thing. Very frequent and long lasting cleaning cycles. Every time during startup and shutdown of the printer and before and after almost every print. When analyzing the problem, I deducted that the issue started *after* I had switched off ink monitoring when refilling the cartridges for the first time (switched it off the same way as you described in your initial post). I bought a chip resetter, reset all chips and gone were the tedious cleaning cycles. It only cleans every now and then, just when before I turned off ink monitoring. I must add that I refill and reset my genuine canon cartridges. I truly believe this is another Canon attempt to make life worse for refillers ("you don't buy our ink, we'll waste yours").
Another piece of information that may be useful is the advice to leave your printer plugged into a powered socket (you can turn off the printer as long as there's power on the outlet). Appearantly, the printer senses when it has been unplugged from power and it will assume it's been off for a long time and start an extensive cleaning cycle.

Hope this may help.

 

[wixwix]

Thanks for the helpful comments and suggestions.

To "The Hat":
-Do you mean that my ink monitoring is already off if the bars for the ink show as empty and it doesnt notify me as that being a problem?

To "MP460":
-Some useful info there, thanks.
-What does a chip resetter do? How do I use one? Where can I purchase it? (I am also still using the original genuine canon cartridges that came with the printer, except I think the Cyan which I replaced from the one that came with it to another genuine canon cartridge.)
-I will look into keeping the printer on a powered socket but with my current setup its not possible and would need some rejig.

 

[Mowerman90]

Your problem stems from the fact that you have not reset your cart chips and ink monitoring is turned off. You can find chip resetters on Ebay for around $30. What they do is reset the chip on the cart to show that it's full and then the ink monitoring system will count the number of nozzle firings thus keeping track of how much ink you have used. When the nozzles have fired enough it notifies you that it's time to replace the cart. At that point you refill and reset the chip again. Most chip resetters only work with Canon OEM carts which are the best for your printer in the first place so stick with them.

 

[wixwix]

Well luckily as far as i am aware all my carts are oem and chips intact so I will look into this. Thanks.