Canon ip4200 Refilling Questions

[Doug]

I am wondering if anyone out there is successfully refilling their Canon ip4200 cartridges. I have this model and it is a very nice working printer. The major drawback being the anti refill chip on the cartridge. I am aware that the chip counts the amount of ink being used and if you refill the cartridge it thinks that is empty and gives you various notices/threats regarding refilling. I have also read that you can just click through these and keep printing.

Well then what happens when a cartridge actually does run out of ink and you haven't been physically looking at the carts to be aware of this. Would the printer keep going and thereby damage the printhead or would there still be some type of screen warning relative out of ink?

Also, various ink suppliers are stating on their sites that compatible ink carts are coming soon for the ip4200. Does this mean that they have duplicated Canons chip and if so will their carts also present the same issues as the OEM carts?

I checked the Hobbicolors site on E Bay last night and noticed that they are selling the new inks for the ip4200 but it mentions that refilling may void your warranty which conflicts with information available elsewhere.

Who would have thought that simply putting new ink in a plastic box could be so interesting!

 

[Osage]

To Doug,

Thank you for pointing out that Hobbicolors is selling a Canon ink especially blended to match the new chromalife 100 inks--I see that hobbicolors claims a wider color gamit--but most people who were refilling the new chipped Canons were using the same inks as blended for the previous generation Canon printers with very good sucess---even though it was known that the new inks were slightly different in a few flavors. I also not the five color kit for the 5200/5200 is cheaper than for the kits for the 4000/5000---but much of that is explained by the fact that no vigin empty cartridges are supplied--although rubber plugs are added.

Many of the rest of your questions I regard as somewhat still in the relm of speculation. But the warranty question is worth speculating on. Certainly the new chipped Canons will tattle if a refill ink is used. But for those in the US, the Magnusson act also governs as a law. Basically the act states that the warranty can't be voided because cartridges are refilled-----so if something totally unrelated to a cartridge breaks on a printer--lets say a USB port or a drive motor--the warranty is uneffected if you refill---and it also puts some burden of proof on Canon to prove the refill ink caused the malfunction
if the warranty problem is ink related. So in the US, Canon is probably going to honor the warranty because if they don't enough users will band together and test the entire chip legal issue in some sort of possible class action lawsuit. Or so I speculate. In terms of the rest of the world where other laws may or may not govern, it may be a decision different in other Canon divisions.

I would also speculate that if you over print a cartridge after ink monitoring is disabled, you may well risk printhead damage if the cartridges gets totally depleted.---but that cartridge should have been refilled long before---even before the reserve tank went totally empty.

 

[headphonesman]

"but that cartridge should have been refilled long before---even before the reserve tank went totally empty."

Someone said to me a long time ago..........." No one should ever try to use the excuse " but the car ran out of petrol"....................all chipped Canon owners will have to start getting in the habit of regularly checking their ink cart levels (even those that dont re-fill ), because the machine check is numerical not optical, and then non-existent if/when old carts are re-used.

 

[fotofreek]

Refilling bci-6 carts requires checking ink levels periodically as running them to the empty signal on the ink monitor shortens their life for refilling. No big deal as they are clear. While still in the printer you can see if the ink level is lower than the edge of the printhead, and removing them for a brief look doesn't take more than 30 seconds for a set of six (i960).