Epson Stylus 830 drinking color ink like it's water

[Blenda]

My Epson Stylus Photo 830 is now a year old and so far it went through
3 color ink cartridges. This is a mystery because we never print
anything in color. The "black ink only" button under advance printer
preference is turned ON. Everytime it prints something, the indicator
for color ink would go down a bit and yet the paper has no color on
it. I have the 5.41 driver, I'm using Winxp.

 

[xNokia3390x]

My Epson Stylus Photo 830 is now a year old and so far it went through
3 color ink cartridges. This is a mystery because we never print
anything in color. The "black ink only" button under advance printer
preference is turned ON. Everytime it prints something, the indicator
for color ink would go down a bit and yet the paper has no color on
it. I have the 5.41 driver, I'm using Winxp.

That's because when it cleans the printheads, it cleans both the black and
color - meaning ink from BOTH cartridges are used, whether you actually use
them in actual printing doesn't matter. If you don't print anything in
color, why not consider a laser printer?

 

[puss]

My Epson Stylus Photo 830 is now a year old and so far it went through
3 color ink cartridges. This is a mystery because we never print
anything in color. The "black ink only" button under advance printer
preference is turned ON. Everytime it prints something, the indicator
for color ink would go down a bit and yet the paper has no color on
it. I have the 5.41 driver, I'm using Winxp.

Ever time you turn on a Epson, it does do a cleaning cycle, but not every day
though, this will waste ink no matter what.

Do not think that you can save ink by leaving the printer on all the time as
this will cause the print head to clog up, as they are not in the capped
parked position.


I do suggest you get your self a cheap laser printer, as they do not waste ink
like this, plus you can do a draft mode with them..

 

[Tony]

My Epson Stylus Photo 830 is now a year old and so far it went through
3 color ink cartridges. This is a mystery because we never print
anything in color. The "black ink only" button under advance printer
preference is turned ON. Everytime it prints something, the indicator
for color ink would go down a bit and yet the paper has no color on
it. I have the 5.41 driver, I'm using Winxp.

It doesn't matter how you try to conserve coloured inks - Epson have it
covered. They use the underprinting techniques to produce sharper blacks
(apart from flushing and priming the heads) this effectively prints a black
over another colour combination. And probably the worst ink hog has turned
out to be the 820/30 series.
Tony
--
Inkylink JetTec UK Quality - Wot others wanna-be
Epson C64/ C84 Lighfast (30% more free) pigmented inks.
Canon BCI-3 i560 i750 BCI-6 i865 S-820 / S-900 series.
Specialist ink refill kits... http://www.inkylink.co.uk
remove pants for personal mail

 

[Jim]

Well, if all you want is black and white, why not buy a laser printer? They
do print very good text.
Jim

 

[Raymond Owen]

I have had the same problem with my Epson Stylus Color 580.

After a while I realised the so-called intelligent ink gauge was fraudulent
and just went through a dummy run in the cartridge-changing feature . . .
this gave me a comparatively 250% ink increase per cartridge.

From then on I used old-fashioned visual for determining when ink needed
replacing. Of course Epson techs will give you all sorts or fictitious
reasons you shouldn't do this

Just clicking on next and next, etc . . . after this the printer thought the
cartridge was full. Give Epson time and they will find ways of thwarting
this.

I have come to the belief that my machine has 'timed-out' its duty cycle
and, even though it has been little used (being a domestic machine), the
machine has finally stopped altogether.

I would just dearly love to hack the printer's 'time-out' chip . . . any
suggestions from anyone?

 

[puss]

I have had the same problem with my Epson Stylus Color 580.

After a while I realised the so-called intelligent ink gauge was fraudulent
and just went through a dummy run in the cartridge-changing feature . . .
this gave me a comparatively 250% ink increase per cartridge.

From then on I used old-fashioned visual for determining when ink needed
replacing. Of course Epson techs will give you all sorts or fictitious
reasons you shouldn't do this

Just clicking on next and next, etc . . . after this the printer thought the
cartridge was full. Give Epson time and they will find ways of thwarting
this.

I have come to the belief that my machine has 'timed-out' its duty cycle
and, even though it has been little used (being a domestic machine), the
machine has finally stopped altogether.

I would just dearly love to hack the printer's 'time-out' chip . . . any
suggestions from anyone?

The Soak pads are full, there are tools to reset the printer..

 

[Safetymom123]

You haven't given enough details. Do you have the same cartridges in for
more than 6 months? Recommend you change them and see what happens. Have
you run nozzle checks, cleaning cycles????

 

[Pol]

Le Sun, 18 Apr 2004 11:02:23 +1000, Raymond Owen a écrit :

I have had the same problem with my Epson Stylus Color 580.

I would just dearly love to hack the printer's 'time-out' chip . . . any
suggestions from anyone?

Try this procedure : it works. It saved my beloved (but so ugly...) 580 !
http://www.4p8.com/eric.brasseur/epson480.html

(for 480, but works with 580)

Have also a look at :
http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml