Canon 521 refilled carts get empty fast!

[Photofan1986]

Hi there!
Thanks to some people's help out there, I finally started refilling my oem Canon carts, and while everything is working fine, I am wondering...
Is it possible that the inks I am using now (inks from Image Specialists) are running low faster than the original Canon inks, or am I just printing more (certainly ^^)?
I also saw that when replacing a cartridge, the printer (MP540) uses a lot of ink, so I should probably not do this too often, right?
And a last question: at the moment, I am not using a chip resetter, but I am planning to buy one. How does it work? Is there a kind of counter that estimates the level of ink remaining in the cart? If so, is it accurate enough to be relied upon?
Thanks for your precious help!

 

[headphonesman]

After you have reset the chip on the cart , the cart (upon being re-inserted) , tells the Printer that it now has a full complenent of ink. This is regardless of whether you have put in a full complement of ink , a partial amount of ink or no ink at all in the cart.

The printer then counts the amount of firings of the cart ,(it does not measure the ink). It has assumed you started with a full complement of ink which will give a certain number of firings and will warn you after the appropriate number of firings have been expended , that it is running low , and needs a new cart.
The best practice is to wait for the next advice that it is running low, then re-fill , reset and re-insert.(in that order)
The cart is placed in the re-setter with the chip making contact on the re-setter pins , there is a short flash and then a long flash to indicate that the re-set of the chip to full has been successful.
If you are using the top reifill method you will need to ensure that the refill hole has been sealed before placing into the re-setter, or re-set empty and then re-fill and then seal the re-fill hole.
If you are using the Durchstich method there will be no top refill hole to worry about, the cart can be re-set or reifilled in either order.

All re- filler people use more ink than genuine cart people because we can afford to, and get full benefit from our printers.

I do not understand your comment " so i should probably not do this too often", I think you are referring to the purging cycle after the carts have been re-inserted and the lid put down , this I would not worry about.


Personally I refill and reset without waiting for low ink advices, I keep a constant check on carts and when they are half empty I refill ,(using the Durchstich method) and re-set .

 

[leo8088]

A possible reason that your ink cartridges go empty faster now is probably because they are not as full as they were new when you refill them. The sponged chamber needs to be pretty full too but not completely saturated. If your sponged chamber is still pretty empty after refilling you will need to refill soon again.

 

[Photofan1986]

Thanks for your messages!
And yes, the cause may be that I did not refill the cart completely...at least it seemed to be full, but maybe I put it back into the printer too fast, and did not wait until the sponge got saturated.

 

[ghwellsjr]

You only want the bottom sponge material to be saturated. Try not to let the top sponge material get any ink at all if you can help it. It needs to pass air from the air vent down to the groves along the wall separating the two ink compartments so that air can get into the hole at the bottom of that wall to replace the ink that comes out of the reservoir.