I think I fried my R1900!!!!!!

[jtoolman]

First I'll begin with the old adage that says, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"!
I've been running my R1900 on refillable carts with auto reset chips. Worked great. The negative was that I was constantly resetting individual carts. At the same frequency as when using OEM. It seemed that a few prints after refilling and resetting, say the CYAN, I'd have to refill and reset another color and then another and another. Not to mention the numerous purges after each event.

I decided to go with a damper cart set that would reset ALL colors at once by a two reset button chip bank. You may have seen these advertized by resellers. Won't mention where I got it from but they are very well known.

It did installed flawlessly and I even shot a long video documenting the whole process. I printed a beautiful 11x17 print and left my print room fully satisfied. An hour later all hell broke loose. The chip began to not recognize numerous color positions and nothing could be reset. So after much chagrin, I removed the offending kit and after cleaning up a bit, I re installed my regular very reliable refillable cart set that I had just an hour ago replaced. It was not recognizing Red, then Orange, then PK,,,,,,Randomly! I then reluctantly decided to install a set of OEM carts I have been saving and now the PK refuses to be recognized. I've tried everything I can think of. Checked the contacts on the print head carriage unit and the little brass wire connectors that mate with the cart chips as they could actually ride up a bit out of place and so not contact with the cart chip. All seems visually perfect.
I've tried powering the printer down - un-plugging the power cord and USB.,,,,,,Nothing. Still can not recognize PK. Did I fry something???? I am at the point of tossing the thing in the trash but I think I'll "Sleep on it" and maybe tomorrow I'll a bit more clear of mind and possibly come up with something positive.

Any ideas what could be causing multiple PK carts ( tried several ) from not being able to be recognized.

Thanks folks!

Joe

 

[stratman]

Is there a way to reset the firmware to factory default?

Have you tried uninstalling the printer, unplugging, rebooting and then reinstalling the printer?

Is the printer still under warranty?

 

[jtoolman]

No, it's not under warranty anymore and besides, I've done some physical mods to the case, so that's that!
I will try to uninstall the printer and look at the Epson site for firmware updates if any. Tomorrow I have to check all the chip terminals on the head and see if I can detect something out or norm.

Thanks

 

[jtoolman]

Deleted it and re installed it and that solved what I thought would have been a catastrophy. Sometimes the easiest fixes are the simplest. Thank you STRATMAN!!!! You are a logical GENIOUS!

 

[mikling]

Did you spill any liquid BEHIND the printhead contacts. A pair of these contacts are capacitance detectors, this is to detect TRUE PHYSICAL empty states in the cartridge. If they are wet, both the simulators on the aftermarket chip as well as the OEM detector circuit will go haywire.

Try using canned air and blow behind these chip contacts in the event some liquid spilled behind.. The contact assembly can be disassembled but removal is difficult.

I was looking at DECODER boards that are available that also keep the ink level at full all the time but the system is very intrusive and removal of the control board is called for. Could be a firmware on the printer that was newer than what the system you installed was deigned for issue.

Good luck.

 

[jtoolman]

Mikling, all is fine now. Aparently all i had to do was to uninstall the driver, and re install. worked like magic. I am running oEMs for now and have two more sets in waiting plus 16 Gloss carts. But if all is well I'll switch back to yours. Bt the way than you so much for the replacement chips. Got them today!

 

[stratman]

Deleted it and re installed it and that solved what I thought would have been a catastrophy. Sometimes the easiest fixes are the simplest. Thank you STRATMAN!!!! You are a logical GENIOUS!

Fantastic!

I have to say in my case, the saying "even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then" applies. It was a long-shot based on old school printer fix algorithm.

 

[jtoolman]

Well it worked my friend!
THANKS!!!

 

[stratman]

You are most welcome. I am happy for you, my friend.

 

[mikling]

Here's some interesting info for R1900 users. The R2000 uses cartridges with the same external dimensions as the R1900. Epson, like the other mfrs who put in smaller sponges, puts in sealed voided areas inside their cartridge.... the R1900 has OEM carts has these voids. The R2000 carts are free of this void thus possessing "greater" capacity. The R2000 refillable cartridges have chips that have a button cell on each chip AND its own resetter on each chip....and you can reset the ink counter anytime by simply shorting two contacts. I use a small length of stranded wire splayed out like a brush to reset these chips. I just touch the contacts and the counter is reset.

For users with light to moderate printing loads, this new generation of chip is ideal for them as it resolves the issue that jtoolman was experiencing and also all users of OEM carts as well. When refilling one color, you will top up ALL the other colors and reset the chip to full. Say goodbye to that pesky ink out warning. Before starting a large print session, top up all tanks and reset all of them!.

While eliminating the consecutive resets, the other benefit is that this reset ability will extend the ink pad life by up to seven times what Epson had intended. Again for light to moderate users, the ink pad life issue might be now a non issue for many years. This is the same strategy I and many others had pointed out to use when refilling printers. Changing out a complete set and resetting all at once will minimize deposition of ink into the waste ink pad and extend the life of the printer. So the requirement of an external waste ink pad is not as great anymore.

What is also happening is that it looks like Epson is now designing their newer printers with ink pads that are user accessible or much easier to access. I looked at an NX130, bottom of the heap cheapo AIO tonite and it looks like it had an ink pad that was changeable from the bottom like the Artisan! What's more interesting it had access to the waste ink pad tube via a snap on door that you could use your finger to remove and access the tube!


The pace of change .....