Best generic ink for Canon Pixma Pro 9000 MkII?

[stratman]

The Hat: Fair enough!

Stratman: Yes, good point, I should. Would a cheap Chinese $8 one from Bisontec (search "Canon Chip Resetter for Canon CLl8 and PGl5" on Amazon) do for personal use? Or do I definitely need get the $20-30 one (which I believe is also China-made)? I guess I can always return the Amazon one without penalty if it gives me grief.

Could be OK. Make sure the chip resetter:

1) Will it work with ALL the cartridges of your specific printer. Get it in writing if it is not explicitly spelled out on the web page. Make a copy of these claims for your records.

2) My preference is a resetter with a removable base to easily swap out the coin battery(s). Mine has Philips screws in the base. There are pictorial instructions on the forum on how to jimmy the base off a sealed resetter and convert it to a screwed-in base if you want. You may never replace the battery depending on how long you have the printer. Another point, though less important nowadays, is how many batteries. Mine has 3. Most have one. Cheap replacement batteries from Meritline are not a big deal for me when it's time to replace mine.

3) Is there a warranty, and if so, for how long? At $8 a resetter --- don't expect much. That does not necessarily imply good or bad, though.

The Hat, per usual, gives good advice.

 

[dinky]

Thank you inkjet hackers extraordinaire for all the great advice. I'll report any surprises/frustrations if they merit sharing.

I must say the syringe thing makes it feel so illicit! Hopefully, I won't prick myself in the attempt to be a smart consumer!

 

[The Hat]

dinky
I have a couple of resetters going spare myself, so if you want one just mail me for details..

 

[dinky]

Thanks for your kind Irish offer The Hat! Let me first see what Amazon can do.

 

[dinky]

OK Ink Warriors, my progress report and issues I'd love you help with?

Finding the path into reservoir with a 2 inch Hobbicolors needle is not easy! There's resistance in the foam so to break out into the reservoir it feels like you're hitting solid plastic. You sometimes are hitting the plastic wall and sometimes just need to wiggle and push to get through. It's a "blind" process because you can't really see the needle and have to sort of try and feel your way through. I imagine with practice it becomes a zen path of some sort to the reservoir and voila you can squirt to your heart's content. Still, quite a pain!

Two big problems: My canon would not recognize the refilled/reset generic Magenta cart. I tried two of them and it wouldn't print no matter what. The cart would light up and then go dead and the printer wouldn't go no matter how much I pressed the lower "amber" flashing button to override the printer's circuits.

Bigger problem: Images are printing green! I have no idea why. I am not sure what to do. Calibrate the colors? Nozzle check? Futz with some other maintenance program? Without solving this, I am obviously wasted $60 and many hours of time learning to be an ink warrior! I may have to go back to third party refills and hope that works and prints beautiful images (I worry I have messed up the printer's delicate circuitry somehow and that there is no return to photographic delight?)

Please help. I am noob (green?) ink refill warrior recruit who doesn't want to surrender. Have I just lost a battle due to inexperience or the whole damn war? Is there anyone with a pro9000 who knows the trick?

Respect,

Dinky

 

[rodbam]

Dinky I'm only a trainee ink warrior but I do have the pro9000 & have only refilled about 6 or 7 cartridges. I mostly used the German method but as I made the hole as low as possible I didn't have to push the needle through the sponge, it travelled just underneath it. I've read there's no problem even if you do go through the sponge but you have to turn the needle & sort of work it through if you have the blunt needles. It's a bit hit & miss whether you find the small opening into the empty ink chamber so you just have to aim the needle up & down a bit until it finds the hole.
It's best to use your original Canon cartridges for trouble free refilling, why are you using generic cartridges? I think all the master warriors here only use the genuine cartridges & most of us Guru's do too
You will have to wait for one of the masters to answer your green printing problem mate.

 

[dinky]

Thanks rodbam, but I guess I am not going close enough to the outer wall of the bottom of the cart to see the needle's path even though I puncture less than a mm below the outer wall. Practice may help so I am not too worried about it. What will keep me up is that the messed up color has no duh solution. I hate surrendering to being a mortal/ink refill dropout.

 

[The Hat]

dinky
Lets deal with your problems one by one; if youre having problems with the German method
and still cant get it just right then I would suggest using the top fill method for a while.

The problem with recognizing your cartridge might be that you didnt leave it in the resetter long enough
(red led 3-5 seconds approx) and also you mentioned generic cartridge is that a Canon or third party cartridge.

Your problem with images going green could be a number of things like cross contamination
caused by leaking cartridge, magenta ink starvation, wrong ink in a particular cartridge,
incorrect filling method (I related to it above first).

On your next refill start from the top, but above all take your time,
lay out all of your inks in a row and identify the photo cyan, photo magenta,
red and green inks and segregate them from the yellow, cyan, magenta and black.

You should fill the primary colours first say black, yellow cyan and magenta
next the green and red, you only have the two photo colours left then it gets easier.

Its very easy to fill cartridges with ink but it's a lot harder when you have a whole lot together.
Try to fill only a couple of cartridges and the rest over the next day or so.

Theres no need to refill your cartridges again just remove all of them from your printer
and check to see if any of them are leaking + stop and clean up any mess first.

Next check to makes sure they all have the correct colour in them,
with the two photo colours it is very hard to be sure so if in dough wash them out and refill,
same goes with the cyan and magenta.

When you attempt refilling the first time it never goes quite to plan something usually goes
wrong a little, mostly a lot when trying to refill eight all together.

So Dinky you havent lost the war but just got a bloody nose so next time
be prepared better and use planning + patience as you allies and I can guarantee success is inevitable.
Please report back to us with your next steps..

 

[stratman]

Finding the path into reservoir with a 2 inch Hobbicolors needle is not easy! There's resistance in the foam so to break out into the reservoir it feels like you're hitting solid plastic. You sometimes are hitting the plastic wall and sometimes just need to wiggle and push to get through. It's a "blind" process because you can't really see the needle and have to sort of try and feel your way through. I imagine with practice it becomes a zen path of some sort to the reservoir and voila you can squirt to your heart's content. Still, quite a pain!

There is a ledge between the sponed side and the spongeless side. It is common to butt up against this ledge with the needle tip. Gentle waggling up and down of the needle combined with a bit of backwards and forwards of the needle will eventually get the tip into the spongeless side. You'll get the hang of it soon.

Two big problems: My canon would not recognize the refilled/reset generic Magenta cart. I tried two of them and it wouldn't print no matter what. The cart would light up and then go dead and the printer wouldn't go no matter how much I pressed the lower "amber" flashing button to override the printer's circuits.

First, compatible chips may not be as rugged to handling or conducive to accepting a reset as OEM Canon cartridge. These and other reasons are why it it best to use OEM cartridges. That said, it could be your techniques with resetting or you could have damaged or altered the position of the chips somehow. Maybe the chips are crappy in the first place and it was nothing you did. It is unusual that two different chips would present as a problem, so it may have nothing to do with your handling. Adding to this theory is that a chip marked as "empty" and not reset should still allow you to override ink level monitoring and continue printing at your own risk. Your printer didn't allow for that. Could be a printer problem. Try a new OEM Canon Magenta or some other Magenta that you know or believe will work to help narrow down the issue.

Bigger problem: Images are printing green! I have no idea why. I am not sure what to do. Calibrate the colors? Nozzle check? Futz with some other maintenance program? Without solving this, I am obviously wasted $60 and many hours of time learning to be an ink warrior! I may have to go back to third party refills and hope that works and prints beautiful images (I worry I have messed up the printer's delicate circuitry somehow and that there is no return to photographic delight?)

If the Magenta was not reset or overridden as you wrote, then how is it you were able to print? A chip marked as "empty" stops the ability to print further until a "new" cartridge with a working chip OR an override of the chip/cartridge in question is performed.

If you were able to continue to print despite an unrecognized and not overridden chip, then possibly the printer is behaving as though no magenta is available (despite a refilled cartridge) and no Magenta is used during printing. This would explain the lack of Magenta in your green prints. A nozzle check an appropriate early step, though the initial issue of the Magenta cartridge not being recognized must be resolved somehow and may be the root of your printer output problem. Printing more than nozzle checks until you resolve the Magenta issue may result in a burned out print head (if not already).

Suggestions:

1) Do a nozzle check and post it here. Do not print anything else. Do not do cleanings or maintenance whatever.

2) Be prepared to purchase at least a new OEM Canon Magenta cartridge. You may wait until your nozzle check has been examined here and you are given further advice on what to do next. That way you may save money or trips to the store if it's found out other issues need correction.

3) Follow The Hat's advice.

 

[dinky]

Thanks The Hat and Stratman for the excellent tips.

Progress: I changed the refills to Canon carts. I wasted a few dozen cc of ink in the Chinese carts but that's OK.

The nozzle check now works (attached below).

On plain paper, the image seems fair as does the nozzle check pattern and microCMYK. On glossy photo paper (Canon or Costco/Kirkland) it's green!

I think my problem is different now (color profile issue?) but I am not sure.

-Original Image:
http://img571.imageshack.us/i/dsc0123s.jpg/
-CMYK test:
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/8678/canonpro9000plainpaperc.jpg
-Image on plain paper:
http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/8171/canonpro9000plainpaper.jpg
-Image on Kirkland Gloss (similar green tint on Canon paper):
http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/899/pro9000photoglosskirkla.jpg

UPDATE:

I spoke to Canon who finally determined "without doubt" (I sent them scans and jpegs of nozzle checks and the image I was trying to print) that the nozzle check isn't printing correctly (except maybe for CMY, which is why the plain paper print looks kind of OK as it only uses CMY) and the nozzles are probably clogged.

I did 2 cleans and one deep clean (per their instructions) only slightly improving the nozzle check. My admittedly semi-wild guess: it's not a nozzle clog issue but a refilled cart issue. The printer is not happy with the refills methinks and can't read/control the carts well since I replaced half of them. I didn't of course tell Canon about my refill pains/fails. They are now saying to take in my printer for service but that I must leave the carts in as they are (which of course won't be happening since they are now all refills/remanufactured.)

What to do!