Cartridge chip show/ do not show ink level on ARC chip

[glprint]

I have an HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 N911a printer and I'm looking for cartridge chips on Aliexpress.com .

Can someone please suggest what is the best type of replacement chip to use on refilled cartridges ?

The choice are:

- show ink level

- do not show ink level

- auto reset chip

Product sellers always say that if the ink on the cartridge will be depleted, the chip will became unusable and should be replaced.

If the chip do not show the ink level how it possible that it will became unusable when the ink on the cartridge is depleted ?

 

[PeterBJ]

Could you link to the chips/cartridges? Google tells me that the HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 uses the 950/951 cartridges but not which chips you found on Aliexpress.

Compatible chips come in more varieties. Those that show ink level might be the single use type. When this chip has registered empty it is useless and a new chip must be used after refilling the cartridge.

They can also be auto reset. These chips reset to full when power is removed from the cartridge, meaning the printer turned off or the cartridge is removed from the printer. Some newer Autoreset chips (ARC) are of the intelligent type They don't reset if power is lost or the cartridge is removed from the printer. They can only reset to full when they have registered empty.

Some replacement chips show always full. They are independent of ink use and should need not be replaced when the cartridge is refilled. Bur they give no ink level info and warnings, so you risk burning out the print head by trying to print without ink.

If you check out this, there seems to be something that doesn't add up. Maybe it is caused by bad translation from Chinese to English?

 

[glprint]

Hello Peter,

your answer seems to have anticipated what I was trying to figure out:

the fact that a chip does not show the ink level is not a technical limitation, but seems a trick to prevent the printer to mark the chip as unusable.

Anyway, I do not understand why with chips that do not show the ink level there is always associated this note: "The chips life will be over if ink cartridge out of ink."

If the cartridge does not know the status of the ink level, but it determines the ink level based on the number of printed pages, how it's possible the chip can become unusable if the ink goes below a certain amount ?

 

[glprint]

Some examples of replacement chip found, selected based on the number of products sold, and user feedback:

Chip 1: does not show the ink level.

Chip 2: displays the ink level

Although the pcb looks identical one does not show the ink level

CISS: displays the ink level

Refillable cartridges: displays the ink level

The term "permanent" probably indicates a reset chip or a refillable cartridge.

 

[PeterBJ]

the fact that a chip does not show the ink level is not a technical limitation, but seems a trick to prevent the printer to mark the chip as unusable.

Maybe this means that as the chip does not count down, it will never show empty. A single use chip is useless when it has reached empty.

Anyway, I do not understand why with chips that do not show the ink level there is always associated this note: "The chips life will be over if ink cartridge out of ink."

If the cartridge does not know the status of the ink level, but it determines the ink level based on the number of printed pages, how it's possible the chip can become unusable if the ink goes below a certain amount ?

I don't understand this, the cartridges contain no level gauges that communicate with the chip.

For chip 1: I don't understand this.
For chip 2: Neither do I understand this, but the details suggest a problem with a firmware update. HP of course don't like the use of non-OEM materials in their printers.
For CISS: What ink level does the chip show? The CISS ink tanks are bigger than the cartridges. This looks strange to me.
For the refillable cartridges: It seems that the ink level must never register below 20% or the chip will be locked/excluded. This could again be caused by some clever firmware trick by HP.

I remember seeing an article on druckerchannel.de about HP blocking 3'rd party chips and cartridges using a firmware upgrade. Here is a translation to English.

Also see this thread about the same subject.

 

[glprint]

I don't understand this, the cartridges contain no level gauges that communicate with the chip.

It seems that the fact that the ink level is shown or not it's just a manufacturer customization made according to customer needs: see this product.

Vendors of non original cartridge may have an interest in this type of customization.

The indication of 20% ink can be a safety threshold suggested to the user so that the cartridge does not remain dry: it may be that the print head can notice the lack of ink.

 

[PeterBJ]

I think the use of chips that show the ink level for OEM and compatible cartridges makes sense, but why not for refillable cartridges? The use of "grey ink level" chips makes sense for a CISS with its larger ink tanks that are easily visually monitored, but why should they be used for refillable cartridges?

I think it is neither your nor my fault that we don't understand these Chinese ads, others are also suspicious of info from the Far East. See this thread about refillable cartridges for some Canon printers.

 

[The Hat]

A lot of the time the Chinese translation into English is totally shocking, they go to the trouble of setting up a nice website, but don’t get someone with written English to help them with their stock descriptions...

 

[Roy Sletcher]

A lot of the time the Chinese translation into English is totally shocking, they go to the trouble of setting up a nice website, but don’t get someone with written English to help them with their stock descriptions...

Anyone here old enough to remember the slipshod early Japanese products from the late 50's and early 60's.

While we in the West were busy laughing at them, they snuck up and ate our lunch. Hello Toyota, Mitsubishi and others.


rs

 

[The Hat]

While we in the West were busy laughing at them, they snuck up and ate our lunch. Hello Toyota, Mitsubishi and others.

History has indeed a habit of repeating itself..