Do powered on Canon printers initiate maintenance if no prints made?

I leave my two CLI-8 based printers on, but I've never heard either of the printers initiate a cleaning cycle on their own. Both are in my home office, and most days I am in that room 10+ hours a day.

This got me to wondering what happens if there is an interval of several weeks or longer between printing. Does the powered-on printer self-initiate a regular cleaning cycle, and I just haven't noticed?

If so, then it would seem less important to do weekly nozzle checks as long as the printer has power. If they don't self-initiate, then weekly nozzle checks are certainly justified, and neglect of this practice is asking for trouble.

My experience is that if it has been a while since a print was made (several days), it does seem to do some kind of maintenance before the print gets started. That is consistent with an earlier post about cleaning mode and amount of ink purged .

Does this vary by printer? The info above was from the service manual for an iP4000, which has been available for a relatively long time and is somewhat old technology. Based on posts on this forum, my uninformed impression is that more recent printers do more maintenance cleaning cycles, but that may be anecdotal.

Also, does it make a difference if the power light is off in powered-off deep sleep mode, but the printer is plugged in? Would a printer in sleep mode come out of sleep to do a self-initiated maintenance clean cycle even if powered off (but plugged in)?

BTW, most maintenance cycles seem to be initiated based on ink-drop counts, which explains delays between prints. This isn't a factor when prints aren't made for days or weeks or even months at at time.

Yes, there are timed maintenance cycles.

No, nozzle checks are still useful.

Yes, maintenance cycles may wait to be initiated until a print job is begun. Maintenance may be performed in between print jobs as well.

I do not doubt that differences exist between printer models and even within variations of same model printers.

AFAIK, there hasn't been much of a conversation about "sleep-mode". This would be a good experiment for you to do and report back.

According to the Service Manual for my printer, maintenance cycles are based on time and not "ink-drop counts". Did you see this in your printer's Service Manual?

I set my iP4500 to auto-sleep and do a nozzle check once per week. It prints as good as day one. It does a maintenance cycle before printing if time since last print is long.

My MX850 AIO does the maintenance cycle too.

stratman said:

Yes, there are timed maintenance cycles.

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I'm unclear what you mean by this ... are they "self initiated"?

I don't have service manuals for either my iP4500 or 9000-2. I have looked over the service manual for the older iP4000, and there is a lengthy section on what happens with certain intervals between prints (see OP). However, my inference was that it wouldn't self-initiate a cleaning maintenance cycle. I couldn't tell for sure, so I decided to ask on this forum.

What printer(s) do you have? Your profile/signature doesn't indicate this.

Specifically, if you had your printer powered on, and didn't make a print for two weeks; would it have used up ink with self-initiated cleaning maintenance cycles (and/or nozzle purges)? Or when you made a print (or nozzle check) would it detect that a long interval had passed, and cause a non-self-initiated cleaning maintenance cycle to happen? Or put another way, would it do nothing for the 2 weeks between prints?

No, nozzle checks are still useful.

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Probably, but I'm trying to pin this down. How useful? I've been in my home office for 1000's and 1000's of hours and never heard a self-initiated cleaning maintenance cycle from either printer. I'd think they would be pretty noisy and hard to miss.

According to the Service Manual for my printer, maintenance cycles are based on time and not "ink-drop counts". Did you see this in your printer's Service Manual?

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See OP. Here is info from the iP4000 service manual (iP4500 and 9000-2 obviously may be different from iP4000):

Dot count cleaning*1
(Black/Color)
When the specified number of dots are printed since the
previous Black/Color cleaning. (Cyan and magenta dots are
counted by large and small nozzles separately.)
0.14 (Black)
0.50 (Color)
30 (Black)
35 (Color)

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My speculation is that this is what causes some/most/all maintenance delays between prints ... an ink-drop-count threshold is exceeded. When in a hurry, I've done "runs" of 20 to 70+ of the same letter size print in Quality:Standard and zero delays for ink drying. In this rather demanding print project w.r.t. ink flow, "dot count cleanings" seemed to happen about every 5 prints or so.

embguy said:

I set my iP4500 to auto-sleep

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I hadn't paid any attention to this option on my iP4500 before. Mea culpa. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

I infer this means you have "Auto Power Off" enabled to some number of minutes. Is this equivalent or the same as "auto-sleep"?

Do you have "Auto Power On" enabled or disabled? What is your understanding of what "Auto Power On" does? Would it bring the printer "back to life" to do a self-initiated maintenance cleaning cycle after some elapsed time threshold? If so, that would seem to reduce or perhaps even eliminate the need for weekly nozzle checks for rarely used printers. Or is that wishful thinking?

Took a closer look at "Quiet Mode" ... which I also hadn't paid attention to. My speculation is that this might cause self-initiated maintenance cleaning cycles (if any) to happen during the day rather than the defined quiet time. But that might also be wishful thinking on ny part.

But what I'm trying to determine is "What happens if a powered on printer isn't used for a month?"

BTW, do you happen to have an iP4500 service manual?

Here's another "data point" for this discussion (sorry for the length):
A friend has the same 9000-2 I have, also gotten through the camera body rebate program. He almost never uses it ... actually the only prints it's made have been some tests I've done. He may let me borrow it for the upcoming 4 day Kids Camp with 300 to 1000+ letter size prints made in 3 to 4 days so I'll have use of multiple printers.

After we set it up back in November or December, he ignored my advice to leave the power on. It had serious clogs in about half the colors several months later when we were trying to do some other tests. We used up a LOT of oem ink over about a week getting it declogged .... several deep cleanings but nothing beyond what you can do with the print-driver. No Windex or cleaning carts or purge unit checking. I also showed him what a "Nozzle Checks" was, and strongly advised him to do them weekly even if he did no printing.

Several months later, I again arranged with him to do some tests with his 9000-2, and this time he had left the power on. Whew. IIRC, I was surprised that the ink levels seemed lower than I expected based on my memory of where they were previously. I asked if he had done nozzle checks, and he responded, "What is a nozzle check?" So the 9000-2 almost certainly hadn't had any weekly nozzle checks done.

I did a nozzle check, and it was flawed. Drat. But not nearly as bad as before. Fortunately, it cleared up nicely with a basic cleaning (not deep) ... the second nozzle check was fine, as were about 5 or so letter size prints. (Otherwise, I think he would have taken a hammer to it.)

Kind of inconclusive and I didn't keep detailed notes of just what was done and when.

I can't be sure, but it did seem like the 9000-2 used up some ink during the two months or so between the serious clog problem and the minor clog problem months later. The clogs were certainly less onerous with the power left on than when off, even though no nozzle checks were done. That suggests to me that the printer was self-initiating some maintenance.

However, the nozzle check with the power left on was flawed rather than fine. That suggest to me that even if the printer was self-initiating some maintenance, it might not have been sufficient.

But it's all anecdotal and less than convincing because the recent minor flawed nozzle check might be a residual after-effect from the earlier serious clog. I wanted to do a really deep cleaning of the print-head externally after the deep clogs were finally fixed, but he preferred not to, and I didn't want to "twist his arm" ... it's his printer after all.

l_d_allan said:

stratman said:

Yes, there are timed maintenance cycles.

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I'm unclear what you mean by this ... are they "self initiated"?

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Yes, initiated by time span from last cleaning. This was in response to your first question found in the title of your post.

What printer(s) do you have? Your profile/signature doesn't indicate this.

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MP830.

Specifically, if you had your printer powered on, and didn't make a print for two weeks; would it have used up ink with self-initiated cleaning maintenance cycles (and/or nozzle purges)? Or when you made a print (or nozzle check) would it detect that a long interval had passed, and cause a non-self-initiated cleaning maintenance cycle to happen? Or put another way, would it do nothing for the 2 weeks between prints?

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Yes, yes, don't know. For instance, today there was a maintenance cycle after the print job was initiated but before printing began. There was also a maintenance cycle of some sort in between 2 print jobs separated by ~5 minutes - meaning when the printer sat idle without any print job queued.

No, nozzle checks are still useful.

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Probably, but I'm trying to pin this down. How useful? I've been in my home office for 1000's and 1000's of hours and never heard a self-initiated cleaning maintenance cycle from either printer. I'd think they would be pretty noisy and hard to miss.

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The anecdotal data from more than one user is to print something regularly or clogs form. Their is no question of clogs forming, just questions of how often to print something to keep clogs from forming. Asking your question will yield nothing more than the same anecdotal information discussed over and over - print each week, or some variations. Time to do your own test if you want something more concrete.

According to the Service Manual for my printer, maintenance cycles are based on time and not "ink-drop counts". Did you see this in your printer's Service Manual?

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See OP. Here is info from the iP4000 service manual (iP4500 and 9000-2 obviously may be different from iP4000):

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Find Service Manuals for your printer(s). No one here knows for sure what happens, though it seems like something more than just what is written into the Service Manual is occurring with my printer and others printers too. This could be another research project for you.

l_d_allan said:

I can't be sure, but it did seem like the 9000-2 used up some ink during the two months or so between the serious clog problem and the minor clog problem months later. The clogs were certainly less onerous with the power left on than when off, even though no nozzle checks were done. That suggests to me that the printer was self-initiating some maintenance.

However, the nozzle check with the power left on was flawed rather than fine. That suggest to me that even if the printer was self-initiating some maintenance, it might not have been sufficient.

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There have been other stories of people not printing for weeks or several moths and their Canon inkjets worked fine. I did not print, nor leave the printer on for 3 or more weeks and had no issues.

The environment in which the printer is kept may account for the imperfect nozzle check of the powered on but not otherwise used printer. Colorado altitude, humidity, and temperature of the room may play a part - better or worse than those in other climes. Yet another mystery the forum has no policy statement on.

I think your friend lucky for a well built printer and a friend like you to help keep it running well.

stratman said:

Find Service Manuals for your printer(s). No one here knows for sure what happens, though it seems like something more than just what is written into the Service Manual is occurring with my printer and others printers too. This could be another research project for you.

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Probably a good idea about getting Service Manuals, but I'm reluctant to spend the money without a better idea of what the 9000-2 manual contains. I think my next step will be checking with Canon tech support.

Perhaps that should have been first step? Overall, I've been impressed with getting info from Canon tech support. YMMV.

One of the few times I was disappointed was when I asked about using front button push sequences to get the no-user-interface-except-buttons-and-lights 9000-2 into extended/alternative nozzle check mode as can be done with my iP4500 (also no user interface except several buttons and lights).

I would have thought they could and would supply that info, but they pleaded ignorance.

From Canon Tech Support: Unfortunately, we are not aware of any combination of button pushing that will print an alternate nozzle check.

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That seemed unlikely, but if true, then I have my doubts on just how much nitty-gritty detail is in the service manuals. Maybe I should have asked about getting to "Service Mode"?

My Canon printer doesn't automatically initiate cleaning cycles if not in use.
I almost always keep it on so I can use the scanner (Pixma series).
When I finish printing and not print for about a minute, it always locks it's head, so it doesn't matter if it's on or off. The head is still parked and I've never heard it making any noises before I send a document for printing. Only the stand-by light is on, the printer is in a deep sleep.

It usually performs some kind of quick cleaning like when u turn it on, if there was no printing for a couple of days. I've let it sit without printing for 2-3 weeks and it's OK - but I recommend printing something every 7-10 days just to be sure. I usually print just a nozzle check.

It doesn't seem to use ink while sitting in stand-by. Maybe your problem with the clogs is ink drying out on the pads while the head is parked due to high temperature or lots of ventilation in the room which can evaporate ink faster?