Waste tank capacity

[Beaker]

Encouraged by the prompt reply to my last question and being in need to "fulfill my quota" (10 posts to amend profile) I have another question.

I have seen references to waste tank capacity.
Short of taking it apart to see......
Q. How can I check the waste tank capacity on my Canon Pixma iP4700 and is it necessary?
(I would call them printer nappies - both because that is what they look like [seen one after dismantalling my previous dead printer] & because they soak up all the **** that the printer dumps when doing it's over necessary cleaning cycle........

 

[jtoolman]

I cannot comment on Canon printers but can on Epsons.
There is of course Physical capacity of the pads but the actual "Capacity" is determined by the Waste ink Counter. After each purge or cleaning cycle, or if you print a ton of borderless prints with all that over spray, the counter will tick tock tick tock adding to the "Count" and when it reaches full, whether the pads are actually truly saturated with ink or not, the printer will cease to work.

Then you have three choices. Take it to the nearest service center which to have the pads replaced and the counter reset which depending on the printer model may cost you as much as a new one.
Do the job your self and hope you get everything back together ok. Very messy.
Use a utility to reset the counter back to zero and pray that the pads are not really full as indicated by the waste ink counter.

Epsons are easy to set up for an external waste ink collector bottle and the counter can be reset either with an Adjustment Program or a pay per use utility such as the WIC tool.

I wish Canons were easy to set up with an external bottle. But alas they do not seem to be.

There are a lot of CANON experts here in this forum that can likely give you specifics on Canon's waste ink systems.

Joe

 

[PeterBJ]

For finding information on how much waste ink capacity is left you will have to access service mode on your printer and you need a special service tool to perform service mode operations.

For a description of service mode operations you will need the simplified service manual found here: http://www.gondack.com.ar/media/useruploads/files/ip4700-ssm.pdf . See page 10/24 and on for instructions on service mode operations.

Here is a download containing the service tools: v1050, v2000, v2000 Chinese and v3200 : https://rapidshare.com/#!download|827p10|3500287899|ServiceTool_V3200.zip|728|0|0

The versions v1050 and v2000 work with windows XP, Vista and 7, but only with 32 bit versions of the OS'es. The version v3200 is claimed to also work with 64 bit windows.

The version v1050 is described in the service manual. For the version v2000 you find an instruction here: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=7416&p=1

The D-value found near the top of the EEPROM printout indicates how much capacity of the ink absorbers is used up. If D = 0 then the absorbers contain no ink and if D=100 the absorbers are full. You can reset this value from service mode, but I recommend that you change or clean the absorbers if you reset the counter. Else you risk a nasty ink spill from the printer. A reset of the counter does not remove the ink.

Be very careful when using service mode operations and do so at your own risk. An error made in service mode can cause problems or even render your printer inoperative!