Odd nozzle check

[The Hat]

I agree with you I have seen more of this not so accurate ink level detection with CLI 221 cartridges.

@Harvey The photo of your carts 257JPG look all to be empty and that is no way to use refillable carts, by waiting till they run out of ink is a sure receipt for head failure, you should refill or replace them at low ink warning..

@ Łukasz It doesn’t matter whether the cartridges are new or reset and refilled the low ink warning will still show regardless, the low ink warning has nothing to do with the state of the cartridge chip.

 

[Harvey]

What @Lukasz and I agree with is that once reseted the ink level detection is not as accurate as when the cartridge was new.

It is something more commonly seen at least for me in the CLI-221 cartridge series, maybe the ink level monitor show there is ink in the cartridge, then you remove the cartridge, and there is no ink the reservoir.

 

[The Hat]

A slight discrepancy in on screen ink monitoring really doesn’t matter one way or the other whether it’s in the CLl-221 / CLl-8 or 551 cartridges so long as you have continued ink monitoring in your printer.

But what I can tell you is that when the reservoir in these Canon cartridges becomes void of ink the low ink warning will always show without exception, because there is a prism built into all of these OEM cartridges to make it so..

 

[Łukasz]

But what I can tell you is that when the reservoir in these Canon cartridges becomes void of ink the low ink warning will always show without exception, because there is a prism built into all of these OEM cartridges to make it so..

So, it is safe to put an empty OEM ink tank with reseted chip to a printer, cause prism could trigger "low ink warring", right?

Ł.

 

[Łukasz]

So you say that if the contacts marked are sealed I will end up getting the same nozzle check pattern as the one I uploaded_? I masked mine according to I guess one of your posts and only PGBK grid pattern shows in the nozzle check print.

Yup, but those "PGBK only maskings" are to deal with B200 errors, or to preventive disable all dye based inks (including "narrow black" ink tank).

Ł.

 

[Harvey]

But what I can tell you is that when the reservoir in these Canon cartridges becomes void of ink the low ink warning will always show without exception, because there is a prism built into all of these OEM cartridges to make it so..[/QUOTE]

I am totally aware of this, and I won´t refut this. What I meant is once the cartridge is resetted the ink detection accuracy is not the same. The prism is there for a reason, it makes its job, but the entire detection system is not so reliable.

Now I have a printer that I disabled color printing absolutely no ink on any color cartridge,and yet it shows the carts are not empty.

I guess Canon takes into account in the ink level the ink lies in the sponges and the prism it is just to aid in the estimate.

 

[Harvey]

Regarding the nozzle check I uploaded, I am curious because all of the other colors make possible the little bars surrounding the letters of the colors. These bars often have a color cast on them depending on the inks you have refilled in your carts. With Canon they could be a little gray, with compatible ink they have a tendency to green cast.Maybe the bars are printed with dye black as a base and then the other colors are sprayed on top of them to give them the final color.

These bars always show this cast because the color carts are used to print them, but it is strange to me that even the letters are not between the bars, even when the CLI BK is printed the letters indicating the color won´t show in the printed pattern.

 

[PeterBJ]

I don't think the ink monitoring becomes inaccurate because the chip is damaged or changed by the resetter. Instead I think the reason is loss of sponge capacity.

New OEM CLI-x21 cartridges have a nominal capacity of 10 ml. Nominal capacity means the ink amount used in production of the cartridge, not all of the ink can be used, 1-1.5 ml is left in the sponge when the cartridge is declared empty by the printer. This is to protect the print head, as a steady supply of ink is vital to cool the nozzle heaters, else they risk burning out.

The ink compartment of these cartridges has a capacity of around 3 ml IIRC. The rest of the ink is in the sponge. When the ink compartment becomes empty the prism triggers a count down based on number of nozzle firings and cleanings. The low ink warning is not issued yet as there still is around two thirds of the ink amount left in the sponges. When the printer estimates the ink is running low a low ink warning is issued. When the printer estimates the cartridge is near the end of the cartridge's useful ink amount an out of ink warning is issued, and printing is halted. You can override this warning, but this is not recommended.

The ink level displayed is not based on measurements, it is a calculated value, based on the number of nozzle firings and nozzle cleanings, If the sponge in a refilled cartridge contains less ink than the sponge in a new OEM cartridge, the ink out warnings will come too late, and the print head is at risk, as the count down is based on the ink amounts in a new OEM cartridge.

Therefore it is a very good idea to refill the cartridge when you get the low ink warning, as stated by The Hat. Waiting for the out of ink warning is risky, the cartridge could be out of ink before the warning is issued.

The condition of the cartridges/quality control of your refill can be done by weighing, The weight of a new OEM CLI-x21 cartridge without the orange seal and vent sealing tape is around 20.3 g. If the refilled cartridge is more than one gram underweight the cartridge should be flushed and dried before a new refill. The pigment PGI-x20 has a nominal capacity of 19 ml and the weight of a new OEM cartridge without the sealing clip and the vent sealing tape is around 35.3 g. If a refilled cartridge is more than 2 g underweight it should be flushed and dried before a new refill.

These weights also apply to the opaque PGI-x25/CLI-x26 cartridges. Except for being opaque and having a different chip they are identical to the windowed PGI-x20/CLI-x21.

The most probable cause of this loss of capacity is that running the cartridges too dry causes air to be sucked into the sponge. This air is not always replaced by ink when refilling. Refilling early at the low ink warning greatly reduces the risk of capacity loss.

Much more about the sponges and their role in the proper function of the cartridges can be found in the thread "FLUSHING....WHY?". This (lengthy) thread contains a wealth of information if you want to understand the Canon cartridges which at first glimpse appear to be nothing more than simple ink tanks. It is certainly worth reading IMO.

If you paid for having your cartridge refilled, you will of course try to squeeze every drop of ink out of the cartridge, but doing this with a refilled cartridge is risky. Maybe this is the cause of the problems with the MX860?

 

[The Hat]

So, it is safe to put an empty OEM ink tank with reseted chip to a printer, cause prism could trigger "low ink warring", right?
Ł.

Putting an empty cartridges with the chip reset into any printer is a disaster waiting to happen because you just created a scenario that just can't happen normally and it will cancel all ink monitoring hence fourth. (A deliberate forced act on your part)

What happens then is the EPROM in that printer will ignore the prism completely and the printer will run out of ink giving no warning whatsoever, the prism system can only activate and work correctly after it has detected ink in the reservoir, even as little as 10% is more than sufficient..

 

[Łukasz]

Putting an empty cartridges with the chip reset into any printer is a disaster waiting to happen because you just created a scenario that just cant happen normally and it will cancel all ink monitoring hence fourth. (A deliberate forced act on your part)

What happens then is the EPROM in that printer will ignore the prism completely and the printer will run out of ink giving no warning whatsoever, the prism system can only activate and work correctly after it has detected ink in the reservoir, even as little as 10% is more than sufficient..

Please mark a sentence, where I mentioned about disabling ink monitor?

Ł.