Why does my colour ink go down when I don't print in colour!!!?

[OM]

I've got an Epson CX5200.
I've got my default printing to be black only.
I'll get to a stage where the ink levels on one of my colour catridges
is low.
I'll think: heck I'm OK... I'm just printing in black!
But no... after printing X amount of times in black... the colour
catridge will go down as well... until it gets so low that further
printing is not possible without changing the colour cartridge.

Is there something I'm mising and don't understand??

Thanks.


OM

 

[Jim]

I've got an Epson CX5200.
I've got my default printing to be black only.
I'll get to a stage where the ink levels on one of my colour catridges
is low.
I'll think: heck I'm OK... I'm just printing in black!
But no... after printing X amount of times in black... the colour
catridge will go down as well... until it gets so low that further
printing is not possible without changing the colour cartridge.

Is there something I'm mising and don't understand??

Every time that you turn the printer on, it goes through a nozzle check. It
checks all nozzles, and it uses color ink then. The poor dumb printer has
no way of knowing that you only use black ink.
Jim

 

[V]

I'm afraid you have been EPsoned !!!!

Thats one other good reason to move over to HP. I have been very happy since
I threw away my NEW EpsonCX5200 after a head clog on its very 1st ink
change.

You could invest in a chip resetter but I think you would DEFINITELY be
better off with an HP PSC1215... print qualities are exceptionally good on
this model., and you will never have to throw away your printer because of a
clogged head since HP heads are inbuilt in the ink cartridge....

 

[Alain191]

I've got an Epson CX5200.
I've got my default printing to be black only.
I'll get to a stage where the ink levels on one of my colour catridges
is low.

How many children have you ?

Alain

 

[measekite]

I seems that Epson withtheir power-on nozzle checks, their chips in
cartridges, and other things is trying to extort the maximim is can from
its customers.

As for the R300 that operates the same way, this months issue of
PCWorld is claiming that the R200/300 is very slow, prints poor
business documents, but does offer nice photo prints and is expensive to
run; 2nd to the Lexmark garbage.

The main justification for the R300, in the United States and North
America, is if you MUST print on printable CDs. In Europe, choosing the
IP4000 between the two is a no brainer.

Other than features (HP has more) the Canon IP4000R walked away with the
honors. Of course most do not need the R and the standard IP4000 does fine.

 

[measekite]

I'm afraid you have been EPsoned !!!!

Thats one other good reason to move over to HP. I have been very happy since
I threw away my NEW EpsonCX5200 after a head clog on its very 1st ink
change.

Not so fast. For business document I do recommend HP. My HP990CSE that
I use for business has a reasonable fast Draft that is almost as good as
my Canon IP4000 standard quality. The HP Normal quality is better than
the Canon IP4000 High quality.

But that is where the end of the line is. Canon's draft is much faster
(2 times or more) but real drafty looking but readable. This is good
for printing driving directions from Mapquest. The IP4000 standard text
is about as fast as the HP draft mode and the results are very
acceptable but not as good. The IP4000 does produce outstanding Photos.
It prints equal to or better than HP Photo Printers, is more convenient
in that there are no cartridge swaps, and is much faster. It also has
twin paper feeds. I use the bottom cassette for plain paper and use the
top auto sheet feeder for Photo paper. I do feed one sheet at a time.
Both of my printers are full duplex.

If I could not afford to have 2 printers, I would choose the Canon due
to its ability for better Photos and dual paper feeds. It is also
cheaper to run. The new HP1200 business printer does not have
disposable print heads built into the ink cartridge. It dos have
replaceable print heads but like the Canon are prohibitively expense.
Unlike the Canon, they are individual print heads and HP says they have
a limited life span. They print out how much is estimated to be left in
them by pressing a button.

 

[Ron Krebs]

How many children have you ?

Alain

HA! I was thinking the same. They will print out just about anything that
looks "pretty" or has "pretty" colors. Fortunately, I took my photo printer
out of the network sharing loop.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Yes, probably there is something you don't understand.

There are two possibilities. One, you are printing your monochrome
grey/black images with a mixture of black and colored inks (in theory,
mixing the CM and Y inks make black or greys (it's called "process black
or grey in the industry, because CMY are called process colors).

However, even if you are only using your black ink for the monochrome
you are printing, you need to understand how Epson printers work. Each
time you turn the printer on, each time it does a times head cleaning or
you request one, and each time one or more cartridges are replaced. the
printer goes through a vacuum/purge cycle which pulls some ink from the
head's nozzle holes. Since the purging system has only one cap, which
covers all the ink heads, during any and all of the above mentioned
processes, ink from every head is drawn out and discarded, even if you
are not printing with those colors.

Art

 

[Ivor Floppy]

[..]

Since the purging system has only one cap, which covers all the ink heads,
during any and all of the above mentioned processes, ink from every head
is drawn out and discarded, even if you are not printing with those
colors.

Although, in theory at least (and from what I've seen of the Epson head
construction) it should be possible to activate the nozzles of the colours
that don't need priming and block the ink flow through those channels (or
partly at least).

I doubt Epson actually do that though - and there may be just as many
reasons why that would be a bad idea as their are in favour of it.

 

[measekite]

Yes it is the way Epson says it has to work but it seems that Epson goes
out of their way more than the rest of the thieves to maximize their
revenues and minimize you ink usage. This just confirm what the Canon
Rep told me in front of the Epson Rep at Frys who did not deny this was
indeed the way Epson worked.

Another reason I bought Canon.

 

[ato_zee]

Yes it is the way Epson says it has to work but it seems that Epson goes
out of their way more than the rest of the thieves to maximize their
revenues and minimize you ink usage. This just confirm what the Canon
Rep told me in front of the Epson Rep at Frys who did not deny this was
indeed the way Epson worked.

Rip-off ink prices plus if a 3rd party ink (or their own) blocks the jets
Epson
get to sell another printer, they are laughing all the way to the bank. Not
to mention the endless, but profitable, head cleaning/unblocking cycles.

 

[measekite]

How much different do you think Canon is? Of for that matter HP?

 

[V]

I am pretty sure that I have had alot more print outs from my HP ink
cartridge, although the HP ink cartridge is smaller than the EPSON. I can't
comment on Canon since I have never owned a Canon but compared to EPSON, HP
lasts atleast twice as long and prints twice as much and that is from my
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE in owning both an Epson and an HP.





..

 

[ato_zee]

How much different do you think Canon is? Of for that matter HP?

Because it is a cartel. They all make components for each other
and use the same sources for motors, gears and other parts.
If you have a bad experience with one you buy another, from a
different member of the same cartel.

 

[measekite]

In this months PCWorld there was a short review on some Photo printers.
The HP8450 costs 83 cents for a 4x6 print including paper and ink.
Canon was 43 cents and the Epson was around 56 cents. The piece of crap
Lexmark, no even a real printer screws the people that buy the garbage
to the tune of 97 cents per 4x6.

One of the downers for HP Photo printers is they have 2 slots for up to
4 or more cartridges. So when you print B/W or Test you are constantly
playing musical cartridges.

Also the HP 8450 took over 2 minutes to produce a 4x6 while the Canon
took around 40 seconds. The Epson R300, according to this small test,
produced nice photos albiet very slow and the worst of the bunch
business documents in the group.

Epson and the HP Photo printers are good reliable printers from solid
companies but they lag behind the Canons in cost, ink cost, paper cost
and quality of the result. The Epson does print Cds in the US while the
Canon won't; only in Europe.

 

[Bob Headrick]

Because it is a cartel. They all make components for each other
and use the same sources for motors, gears and other parts.
If you have a bad experience with one you buy another, from a
different member of the same cartel.

This is one of the most bizarre suggestions I have seen in this newsgroup.
Canon, Epson and HP hardly cooperate and/or make components for each other. As
for buying motors from the same sources, this may be the case, as there are
very few manufacturers that can supply parts in the quantities required.

If the printer companies really had a cartel you would not be paying less than
$100 for printers with the capabilities available today.

- Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP

 

[V]

I think these surveys are all CRAP..... did they calculate the costs on a
one off BATCH PRINT or on a "NORMAL" use, and whi is to say what is normal.
Sure if I powered my EPSON and did a batch print of photos until the ink
runs out then it might be cheaper than HP on Ink because you have had only
one EPSON head cleaning cycle. But if you did normal use eg switch on your
printer 3 to 4 time a week and print a 4x6 then the EPSON has 4 head
cleaning cycles each time wasting precious ink... so I BEG to differ that
EPSON is cheaper over HP when it comes to printing. We need to know the test
conditions before taking these reviews to face value.

 

[measekite]

Inever turn off any of my computer equipment. That includes the
printers. I have followed this practices for years. There is less wear
and tear on the equipment. I do put the monitors into an auto sleep
position.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

I do not believe your idea would work, from my review of Epson's patent
diagrams and other resources, the nozzles and channels are never
blocked. The piezo system, ejects ink through the nozzle by flexing
rapidly when in active mode creating enough force in the ink to move it
out the nozzle, with the help of gravity. However, the pressure created
is minimal, which is why a slight clog or even an air lock can keep ink
from flowing (it instead just circulates around in the chamber.

The cleaning purge process is not active on part of the head. In fact,
during the vast majority of it, the head just sits there. Instead, the
purge takes place by the outside of the head nozzles having a vacuum
applied to pull ink through the nozzles and out. The only way to
selectively purge one color would be to have a separate purge cap and
vacuum pump for each head area, or a mobile seal/cap, which would
probably create other problems. The older models had a separate black
and color cap and purge pump. Newer models have only one universal unit.

Art

[..]

Since the purging system has only one cap, which covers all the ink heads,
during any and all of the above mentioned processes, ink from every head
is drawn out and discarded, even if you are not printing with those
colors.

Although, in theory at least (and from what I've seen of the Epson head
construction) it should be possible to activate the nozzles of the colours
that don't need priming and block the ink flow through those channels (or
partly at least).

I doubt Epson actually do that though - and there may be just as many
reasons why that would be a bad idea as their are in favour of it.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

These generalizations are just that. Just about every Epson and HP
printer model use different ink cartridges holding differing amounts of
ink. The Epson inks should, in theory, go further per liquid measure,
because they do not need to be boiled or heated to be printed with.
They are printed directly as they are formulated in terms of liquid content.

Art