Soon: big test of refillable Epson Pro 3800 cartridges + resetters

[pharmacist]

Inkrepublic.com reveals to me that they are now working an system for the Epson Pro 3880 too. Actually all cartridge except the Vivid LM and the Vivid M cartridges are physical the same (same cartridges, same chips and interchangeable with the Epson Pro 3800, but having a grey instead of a black housing). And also the new generation of the I-refill system for the Epson Pro 3800 does not longer need the original chips to function with and will have re-engineered compatible and resettable chips attached on.

So there are some exciting new developments going on, so stay tuned !!!

 

[vicpug]

I am a little confused about the refill procedure for the I-refill system. I am not sure why you have to turn off the printer , wait 3-5 mins and then carefully remove the cap etc. etc before refilling. Given that you have to remove the carts in order to do the big reset - this is when you refill the carts - removed carts have no pressure.

 

[pharmacist]

Hi Vicpug,

The cartridges incorporate a special one way air valve inside the cartridges. When you remove the cartridge the pressure will only diminish very gradually: the pressure valve at the top of the cartridge only allows air to be pushed inside the cartridge and does not (or hardly) allow the air to escape through that same valve. This is the difference with the cheaper cartridges, where taking out the cartridges means immediately pressure drop.

So even after a minute or so and with removed cartridges their is still a substantial amount of pressure inside the cartridge. Therefore you need the open the cap very carefully. I use a piece of paper towel tightly wrapped around the cap, because you will certainly have some ink being sprayed around the opening, so be very careful about this and you will hear a sizzling sound of the air escaping through that hole.

Actually taking out is not really necessary, just remove the key that mimicks the closing of the printer cover will remove the pressure from the system. But you will still have to wait a few minutes before carefully opening the cap (use paper towels tightly wrapped around it to prevent ink splashing out from the opening) and just pour the ink in, close the cap. Place the key back into the printer so the printer can again put pressure into the cartridges. But you still need to reset the cartridges by that very strange procedure to reset the cartridges. It would be better you can reset only the affected cartridge, but this is possible if you remove the two master chips, having them replaced with the corresponding original Epson chip, and remove the black tape that is covering pin number 1 of the original chips and use the special blue resetter I wrote about earlier in this topic to reset the chips. But this is only possible when the chip has not dropped below 5 % or the chip cannot be reset.

 

[vicpug]

many thanks pharmacist, I understand now. cheers

 

[vicpug]

My I-refill has just arrived. I tried to use the maintenance chip resetter to reset a chip- and just replace one cart - but now it registers as non genuine Epson tank Proceed Yes or No. Any ideas? thanks

 

[pharmacist]

Yes this is normal. It can see you have been refilling. Especially when you it is already empty. You can proceed with yes if you want, but it will be stored in the memory of the printer. The only way to get rid of this error is to insert another chip on the cartridge and install back to wipe-out the memory and then reinsert the chip back that gave you this error. This is the error you get, when the chip falls below 15 %, like the maintenance chip do.

 

[vicpug]

Many thanks, my cart was at 13% - damn. cheers

 

[vicpug]

Hmm, I install a new Epson cart and all is OK, then I reinstall the reset cart and I still get the Non Genuine Error message. any ideas? cheers

 

[pharmacist]

Did you try to use a cyan chip on that particular cartridge to reset the printer (it will give an error, but the memory will be reset) ? Hmm, never heard about this problem. Mines seems to work well, only LK could not be reset with that particular resetter (see page one). One thing: my printer has an older firmware, it could be that this is the cause of your problem.

 

[vicpug]

I have installed an Epson Pro 3800 I-fill system (the inkjetcarts version) with no major issues . I have followed the pharmacists tips on removing the cover and the velcro lid - all works fine. Apart from a major mistake by the supplier ( LM and M ink bottles were wrongly labelled), all has worked well.

Seeing the levels on some of the carts is not easy especially the more viscous inks ( the blacks) so filling is a little non trivial and non exact. Magenta is an easy level because it appears less viscous. One easy refill method - fill the magenta up to the perfect level that you want and weigh the cart. For the other carts - weigh them and add the volume difference ( water and ink weigh about the same). cheers