Power Cuts when printer is working

[Music Image]

Hi all,

Lately I am experiencing numerous powercuts, ( I live in a rural area about 6Ks from town) and so far I've managed not having the printer working at the time. At this rate its only a matter of time when I'll get caught out. Soooo,

What my concern is, is how long have you got to get the head parked back in the proper place before the ink hardens or other nasties start happening?

So far these are all I can come up with :

1/ I have an APC Smart-ups 1000 looking after my MAC and PC with 8 inputs, whicjh has saved my butt about 8 times in the last 2 weeks. I have heard that it is a HUGE no no to put a laser printer on an UPS because of the massive power draw, but what about my Canon ip4000. Would it be OK do you think, if I quickly plugged in my Printer to the UPS and close it down properly. BTW my UPS gives me believe it or not a very nice time buffer of 15 to 20 minutes of shutdown time.

2/ Bundle the printer into the car and dive into town to the nearest power point.


Anyway, what do you do if you experience a powercut? I'd be really interested hear what others have to say about their expereinces.

Cheers Music Image

 

[hpnetserver]

Don't worry too much about it really. If the print head is not parked at the time of power outage the print head carriage should be free to move. If you expect the power outage be long then move it to the center and remove all cartridges and the print head. Cap all your cartridges and just put them aside. Put the printhead in a plastic bag such as a sandwitch bag and squeeze the air out then close it and put it aise as well. When the power comes back just power up the printer and wait for it to complete its powering up sequence. Raise the hood and reinstall the print head and all cartridges back into the printer. The printer will do a cleaning cycle by itself so you don't need to do another one. The printer should be fine if the power outage is not like a few weeks long. It should be fine if it is a few days long.

If the print head is parked at the time of power outage the print head carriage would be locked and can not be moved. You won't need to do anything in this case. Just wait for the power to be back up again.

 

[Music Image]

Thanx hpnetserver for your thoughts.

These power outages have typically been from say 1/2 an hour to 4 hours max. Also we are not yet in summer if that makes a difference in that the temperature is drier and hotter and therefore would speed up the ink possibly drying out in the head.

Music Image

 

[Grandad35]

Music Image,

I did a quick search, and this link (http://www.ciao.co.uk/Productinformation/Canon_PIXMA_IP4000__5801989) states that your printer only draws 16 watts when printing. Your UPS should easily be able to handle this extra load. This would be the simplest (and best) solution.

 

[panos]

My MP750 (which draws more power than the ip4000 when the scanner sensors are on) is hooked on a cheapo chinese 1000w UPS along with my file-print server (a celeron 1600), a wireless access point / switch, a nokia phone charger and my laptop.

All these work under minimum load for the UPS (only one out of the five lights is on). Two lights shine only when I turn on the CRT monitor of the server. I think that even when the printer is used as a photocopier (maximum power requirements) there is still only one light on.

I print very long print jobs and a power cut (not too infrequent where I live) would be quite a hassle. I also save the laptop battery for when its really needed, but I digress -- yes, you can - and should - connect the ip4000 to the UPS.

 

[Music Image]

Hi Grandad 35 and panos

Thanks for your comments!!! great ! just what I wanted to hear too.... and duh, I shouldv'e looked on my spec sheet to see what the power draw was, so thanks Grandad for going to that trouble. I think I'd somewhat reached a conclusion that all printers were a no no to hook into an UPS because or what I'd heard about the Lasers.

When I have my Mac, PC, 2 CRT monitors, and Soundcard, there are only 3 out of 5 lights on and additionally with 2 synths (7inputs) all on at once it still has only 3 lights lit. I have 1 more spare input and guess what is going onto it???? : )

I'll have to get another "adapter" cord like I have with my Soundcard which has a transformer in its power cord and therefore could not plug into the UPS directly as the input female sockets are different to our normal 3 pin power points.

Thanks all for your input which is ALWAYS greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Music Image