EPSON ACULASER C 900

[ferruccio levi]

The EPSON ACULASER C900 color printer has 4 different toner cartridges:
black, magenta, cyan and yellow.
Most of my color prints use yellow as background color, so I expected the
yellow cartridge to empty before cyan and magenta.
On the contrary, the STATUS MONITOR detected the three color cartridges as
empty exactly at the same time; there was no way to proceed with printing
without replacing all the cartridges.
I weighed the old cartridges, and the yellow one was clearly lighter than
the others.
Is this normal ?
Did anyone experience the same phenomenon ?

Many thanks in advance.

Ferruccio Levi

 

[SleeperMan]

The EPSON ACULASER C900 color printer has 4 different toner
cartridges: black, magenta, cyan and yellow.
Most of my color prints use yellow as background color, so I expected
the yellow cartridge to empty before cyan and magenta.
On the contrary, the STATUS MONITOR detected the three color
cartridges as empty exactly at the same time; there was no way to
proceed with printing without replacing all the cartridges.
I weighed the old cartridges, and the yellow one was clearly lighter
than the others.
Is this normal ?
Did anyone experience the same phenomenon ?

Many thanks in advance.

Ferruccio Levi

I remember once i've read review about several laser printers and all of
them are showing empty toner way too soon. On some printers testers were
able to print over 1000 pages AFTER this warning appeared. The problem is if
you can't print after this warning appears...
Then....you're in deep shit...
try to find some workaround this warning, or replace just yellow toner
(maybe you can even empty "almost" empty cart into new one and save
left-over toner in old one---if cart can be opened).

BTW----how are photos, printed with such printer comparable with inkjets
(and what kind of paper yo you use), like Canon iP4000, or i850...? are
same, way off, better?
I'm really curious about this...and also what are the prices of toner carts?
THX.

 

[ferruccio levi]

According to the user manual, the STATUS MONITOR should send a warning when
a single cartridge is nearly empty, asking to "have ready" a new cartridge.
Apparently, after the warning it is possible to print a fixed number of
pages (a few hundreds): then the printer is locked until the cartridge is
replaced.

This is almost normal and acceptable; but both the warning and the printing
lock occurred EXACTLY at the same time for all the three color cartridges.
The EPSON assistance swore that each cartridge has its own detector, but my
feeling is that this is a lie: apparently there is a separate detector for
the black cartridge, but a single detector for the three color cartridges,
to force the user to anticipate replacement.

But to confirm this feeling, I need to know whether my experience is normal
or it is an ecception.

Each cartridge (no matter the color) is about 130 Euro + 20 % tax in Italy;
i changed the first black cartridge at about 3500 pages, and the first three
color cartridges at about 5500 pages.

Color photos are satisfactory on normal paper, but not comparable with
chemical photo prints; they are more opaque with respect to inkjet prints,
but much more cheap.

Ferruccio Levi

 

[SleeperMan]

According to the user manual, the STATUS MONITOR should send a
warning when a single cartridge is nearly empty, asking to "have
ready" a new cartridge. Apparently, after the warning it is possible
to print a fixed number of pages (a few hundreds): then the printer
is locked until the cartridge is replaced.

This is almost normal and acceptable; but both the warning and the
printing lock occurred EXACTLY at the same time for all the three
color cartridges. The EPSON assistance swore that each cartridge has
its own detector, but my feeling is that this is a lie: apparently
there is a separate detector for the black cartridge, but a single
detector for the three color cartridges, to force the user to
anticipate replacement.
But to confirm this feeling, I need to know whether my experience is
normal or it is an ecception.

Each cartridge (no matter the color) is about 130 Euro + 20 % tax in
Italy; i changed the first black cartridge at about 3500 pages, and
the first three color cartridges at about 5500 pages.

Color photos are satisfactory on normal paper, but not comparable with
chemical photo prints; they are more opaque with respect to inkjet
prints, but much more cheap.

Ferruccio Levi

That's odd...

I wonder, what would happen if you remove and insert same toner...will
printer see that it's old one or would it assume that it's a new one...
It's a good question how much toner is still inside when you throw away the
cart...

 

[ferruccio levi]

If I remove and insert again a cartridge detected as empty, it is detected
as empty again.

The final weight of the "empty" cartridges were as follows:
yellow: 532 g
magenta: 543 g
cyan 541 g

Toner filling in a replacement cartridge is about 110 g; EPSON states that
orignal cartridges are filled with 1/3 of replacement ones; that is about 37
g of toner; then the "empty" magenta cartridge should be still filled,
apparently, with at least 11 g, that is about 30 %.

Ferruccio Levi

 

[SleeperMan]

If I remove and insert again a cartridge detected as empty, it is
detected as empty again.

The final weight of the "empty" cartridges were as follows:
yellow: 532 g
magenta: 543 g
cyan 541 g

Toner filling in a replacement cartridge is about 110 g; EPSON states
that orignal cartridges are filled with 1/3 of replacement ones; that
is about 37 g of toner; then the "empty" magenta cartridge should be
still filled, apparently, with at least 11 g, that is about 30 %.

Ferruccio Levi

SO, Epson doesn't fully fills orignal carts...that's...well...not
good...bastards...!
I guess opening of used (or new ) carts is not possible? I mean to move
toner form used to a new one...

 

[ferruccio levi]

SO, Epson doesn't fully fills orignal carts...that's...well...not

good...bastards...!

We must acknowledge that this is clearly stated in the advertisement
booklet...
(with a font greater than some strange clauses in insurance policies in
Italy...)

Ferruccio Levi

 

[Arthur Entlich]

I can't speak for Epson color laser cartridges, but most companies make
their cartridges in such a manner as they can be refilled with toner by
a refilling company if not on your own.

Since the "starter" cartridges are only 1/3rd full you should be able to
get a full toner charge out of the other parts in the cartridge without
any problems with wear, if you can find a reliable refiller.

Almost all color laser manufacturers have gone to the same model that is
used with inkjet printers. The idea is to make up the profit lost of
selling the printer below market value by having you buy new cartridges
sets. The cost of the cartridge set and other consumables often is
greater than replacing the printer with a new set of cartridges. That
is why they don't give you full cartridges with the new printer.... if
they did people would toss the printer after the cartridges ran "dry"
and just replace it. Sadly, all printer manufactures are going to this
model with lasers. They used to supply full cartridges, but the cost of
the printers were considerably more costly, as a result.

The best way to beat them at their own game is to have the cartridges
refilled. SOme require a new fuse be put in, as they are designed to
blow when the toner runs low, in order to deter refilling.

If you don't like this, complain to both the manufacturers and to your
government environmental offices.

Art

 

[SleeperMan]

We must acknowledge that this is clearly stated in the advertisement
booklet...
(with a font greater than some strange clauses in insurance policies
in Italy...)

Ferruccio Levi

At least that...i would think that warning will be with small letters....

 

[SleeperMan]

I can't speak for Epson color laser cartridges, but most companies
make their cartridges in such a manner as they can be refilled with
toner by a refilling company if not on your own.

Since the "starter" cartridges are only 1/3rd full you should be able
to get a full toner charge out of the other parts in the cartridge
without any problems with wear, if you can find a reliable refiller.

Almost all color laser manufacturers have gone to the same model that
is used with inkjet printers. The idea is to make up the profit lost
of selling the printer below market value by having you buy new
cartridges sets. The cost of the cartridge set and other consumables
often is greater than replacing the printer with a new set of
cartridges. That is why they don't give you full cartridges with the
new printer.... if they did people would toss the printer after the
cartridges ran "dry" and just replace it. Sadly, all printer
manufactures are going to this model with lasers. They used to
supply full cartridges, but the cost of the printers were
considerably more costly, as a result.
The best way to beat them at their own game is to have the cartridges
refilled. SOme require a new fuse be put in, as they are designed to
blow when the toner runs low, in order to deter refilling.

If you don't like this, complain to both the manufacturers and to your
government environmental offices.

Art

well...
i refilled my Canon i550 for a year and a half, when head died (all colors
are flushing all over). Now, i spoke with some guys (like servicemen etc),
and more or less all said that ink is the cause of that. I don't know now if
this is true or not, i just think that 1.5 year is a bit too short for a
printer to last - and i didn't print so much that a man could assume that
it's worn out.
I'll try now (with my iP4000) with original ink and...we'll see, won't we?

But, to go back to lasers...
Prices of those are going down fast. It's just, sometimes we assumed that
output is ...great..., while now i hear that it can' tbe comparable with
(good) inkjets. And price per sheet is also not so damn low, so i wonder,
why are they good...maybe for archiving purposes, since i bet that toner
last longer than ink, or water resistance, or speed...

I know that all manufacturers try to gain their loss with ink (or toner).
It's just so much ink (or toner) supplliers on the market, and all says like
" mine is the best!" that is very difficult to decide...

 

[John]

If I remove and insert again a cartridge detected as empty, it is detected
as empty again.

The final weight of the "empty" cartridges were as follows:
yellow: 532 g
magenta: 543 g
cyan 541 g

Toner filling in a replacement cartridge is about 110 g; EPSON states that
orignal cartridges are filled with 1/3 of replacement ones; that is about 37
g of toner; then the "empty" magenta cartridge should be still filled,
apparently, with at least 11 g, that is about 30 %.

I have found some useful information from www.refilltoner.com when I
bought a trial refill kit.

First point - an empty toner cartridge weighs 500 grams - I can
confirm this as I have just completely emptied the original black
cartridge - I got far less from it (2317 total, 987 black and 1330
colour) than you did but this may be a difference between my printer,
which is the C1900 and your c900 although both use the same cartridge
- Epson are getting meaner, maybe.

Second point - the cartridge can be returned to 'full' by
repositioning a lever - its a slightly complicated procedure but, when
you buy a toner refill, you get the full info - the web site maybe
doesn't give as much info as I recall.

This particular supplier of toner allows you to fill at half cost and
you of course get the full cartridge 'life' of 4500 pages for the
C1900 (according to Epson) - maybe by fully emptying the cartridge
you'll get more.

Unfortunately, for this discussion, I haven't yet done a refill - I
had a spare replacement black in readiness - so I can't say more about
how this refill operation goes. One thing is clear and that is that
if you don't fully empty the cartridge, and use the full recharge by
emptying the new toner container, you can get jams.

As for print quality, there is no comparison between a top grade
inkjet and these Epson 600 dpi printers. If you print landscape
pictures you immediately see the lack of smooth gradation in cloud
formations. However, for family pics taken with a digicam, its great
to churn out good-looking portraits, etc, full A4, on cheap paper, and
the printing takes less than 30 seconds per page.

I would love to know how much better the C4000 performs, with its 1200
dpi resolution, but I suspect that gradation will still be a problem.

Oh, and the other thing which is important for me is that when I make
a book (I do them in A5 page size, 2 each side of an A4 sheet), the
laser images won't (I hope, its still too early to be certain) 'print
across' as do inkjet pics.

Hope this helps.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

SleeperMan wrote:

well...
i refilled my Canon i550 for a year and a half, when head died (all colors
are flushing all over). Now, i spoke with some guys (like servicemen etc),
and more or less all said that ink is the cause of that. I don't know now if
this is true or not, i just think that 1.5 year is a bit too short for a
printer to last - and i didn't print so much that a man could assume that
it's worn out.
I'll try now (with my iP4000) with original ink and...we'll see, won't we?

I am suspect that the ink caused the failure. What aspect of the ink
did what to the head? I've been hearing that 18 months with the newer
Canon printers is not necessarily atypical even with Canon's own inks.

But, to go back to lasers...
Prices of those are going down fast. It's just, sometimes we assumed that
output is ...great..., while now i hear that it can' tbe comparable with
(good) inkjets. And price per sheet is also not so damn low, so i wonder,
why are they good...maybe for archiving purposes, since i bet that toner
last longer than ink, or water resistance, or speed...

Yeap, all those reasons. No need for costly specialty paper (to a
point). Much faster. Quality is not as good as inkjet but it is
getting pretty good and improving all the time.

Art

 

[SleeperMan]

SleeperMan wrote:



I am suspect that the ink caused the failure. What aspect of the ink
did what to the head? I've been hearing that 18 months with the newer
Canon printers is not necessarily atypical even with Canon's own inks.

When i didn't print for a day or so, first color print was all more or less
blue or violet - it was lacking of red and especially yellow. But, if i
printed test page of yellow, magenta and blue, instead of yellow it was
violet, instead of magenta also violet....it was like those barriers between
colors are broken so ink flows from one part to another. If i ran one or two
head cleaning cycles and made a couple of prints, it was OK( i guess because
ink was flowing so fast and colors didn't have time to mix)...but only until
next day...i replaced carts, cleaned whole head(service did that), but no
better...
As said, now i decided to use original inks and i guess i'll see after 18
months...
If i calculate, i refilled 5-6 times and with this i saved a little more
than the price of my new ip4000, so at the end it was not so drastic. And
since technology improves, i've got new, better one (i hope)...but if head
also dies on this one, then i'll be pissed off...

Yeap, all those reasons. No need for costly specialty paper (to a
point). Much faster. Quality is not as good as inkjet but it is
getting pretty good and improving all the time.

I think that one of the reasons is that such lasers have only 600 (or some
1200) dpi, while inkjets (printed on photo paper) have 4800 dpi - that IS a
difference. When lasers will reach so big resolution, i think inkjets will
die...(well, as soon as prices f those will drop also)