Canon i865 Ink level meassurment

Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

Does the printer meassure ink correctly whith 3'rd party _black_ plastic
cartridges?


Morgan O.

Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

Morgan Ohlson wrote:

>Does the printer meassure ink correctly whith 3'rd party _black_ plastic
>cartridges?

The i-series uses an optical sensor that can detect when the ink tank's
reservoir has run low, by bouncing light off a prism inside the tank.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/200 [...] 0_pg2.html

(Scroll down about 2/3 of the page for description and pictures)

If the third party cartridges have a clear section on the bottom where
the prism should be located, then they would work. However, if the
entire bottom of the cartridge is blacked out, then the optical sensor
will not work and you will have no warning before running low or out of
ink.

While at first thought it may not seem like a bad thing, it does mean
you could run out of ink in the middle of a print. And this is where the
problems begin.

Most inkjets use a thermal bubble-jet printhead, where ink droplets are
instantly heated to squirt out of the print nozzles. Without ink
available to help cool the heating elements in the printhead, it's
possible to damage the printhead causing nozzle failures.

The only fix is to replace the printhead. Obviously it would not be
covered under warranty.

In other words, don't use cartridges that are not clear and lack the
optical sensor window on the bottom. If you do, be very careful not to
run out of ink. I believe the printers will pause printing so you can
replace an empty tank, but that doesn't mean you're completely safe from
overheating the printhead nozzles.