Does Canon use chipped carts?

[ranchhand]

Hey all!

Well, my old printer is on last legs, time for a new one. I am looking at the Canon iP4300 color inkjet; my question is if this printer uses chipped cartridges or not. So many of these manufacturers (especially Epson is notorious) put sensor chips on their ink cartridges so that if you try to use a generic (at a 60% savings!) they won't work. Anyone know if the Canon carts for the iP4300 are chipped or otherwise configured so that I will be only able to buy Canon ink?

[SLK001]

"Chipped" printer cartridges have been bypassed for years. Even EPSON chipped carts can be obtained from generic suppliers.

So buy which ever printer fits your fancy.

[Bjs]

Many recent model Canons (iP4200 / iP5200 etc) now use cartridge chips similar to Epson.

There is no need to reset them after the cartridge has been refilled, but you will have to disable the ink monitor, to keep printing , or the printer will inform you, that it can't properly detect ink level(s), and that using the (refilled) cartridges might void your printer warranty.

If you choose to continue with the refilled cartridges, the ink monitor is disabled.

This means that you will have to physically remove the cartridges from printer, to check how much ink you have left .

The PGI-5 and CLI-8 cartridges are transparent, so it's very easy to do and there are no chip resetters available for Canon cartridges at the moment, maybe there will be in the future, and maybe not...

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A bit of searching .

[ranchhand]

Thanks guys, that helped.
SLK001: I used to have an Epson C80 - the finest quality printing I ever used. I discovered the chipped carts it was using, and my internet generic cart supplier sent carts that would not work in the Epson - I had to return them. I Found that many of the reputable suppliers would not carry them. I was going to get a resetter over the internet, then Epson started varying the code in the chip so that the resetter eventually would not work anymore. That was when I switched to my Canon printer. Thanks again.

[buttzilla]

Hey all!

Well, my old printer is on last legs, time for a new one. I am looking at the Canon iP4300 color inkjet; my question is if this printer uses chipped cartridges or not. So many of these manufacturers (especially Epson is notorious) put sensor chips on their ink cartridges so that if you try to use a generic (at a 60% savings!) they won't work. Anyone know if the Canon carts for the iP4300 are chipped or otherwise configured so that I will be only able to buy Canon ink?

I tried using Staples generic ink in my canon pixma mp150 and had bad results. It did nothing but smear and leak all over everything. So istick to the canon stuff now.

[SLK001]

I have an Epson Photo 900. I get my carts from a generic supplier. If Epson is varying the code, I believe that it could only effect newer models. Once your printer's firmware is set, the code has to be consistant. Eventually, the generic suppliers would obtain the proper codes for new printers. Anyway, a chip resetter used to be around $10 - not bad, if you refill your own.

I also have a Canon that I use for everything else (besides CD and DVD printing) that uses a separate cartridge for each color (a feature that I will always have in future printers that I own). These don't have any chips. I am not aware if Canon is pulling this "chipping" crap now.

[ozymango]

I bought a Canon Pixma ip6000d last year specifically because I found that it uses non-chipped cartridges, and was the last remaining model (at that time, anyway) that you could use the generic inks in.

I bought it because I also have a Canon i850, rather old now, but damn that makes nice photos with only three color cartridges! And I'd been using G&G inks in the i850 for a couple of years, with great results, so I figured I could do the same with the Pixma.

So far, so good! I'm not making archival prints so image life is not extremely critical, but good image quality is and, in my experience, the Canon/G&G combination (but only with Canon paper) makes excellent photo images. And it's also great for labels, album sleeves, and your general printing.

I actually chose my printer based on going to various ink retaillers and checking out who made replacement cartridges from G&G.

[ntscuser]

I tried using Staples generic ink in my canon pixma mp150 and had bad results. It did nothing but smear and leak all over everything. So istick to the canon stuff now.

I had problems with Staples own brand cartridge in a iP3000 but as the Canon uses separate tanks for the different colours the overall cost of using original cartridges is not too bad. I still wish they'd come down in price though.

[Traveller55]

Bad news on the chip front relating to the iP4200 & the iP4300 - the chips are smart and time out after a while!!

I used the supplied carts then a set of compats - now they have been alomost used (ye, some ink millage left in them yet!) the printer has ceased to function with 'empty tanks' messages and, after investigating this, have found the only escape is to pay the Canon 'thru the nose' prices for OEM carts - the sole reason why I changed from Lexmark. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

OK, I understand business is buisness but I can buy another printer for only just a bit more!!

[overloaded_ide]

Well we have not refilled all that many times yet, but I have an IP4200 modded to do disks and daughter has one. They been refilled a few times to say the least, mostly heres cause she prints all kinds of stuff, I mostly printed disks with mine and used an I850 I already have on another system for other printing I do.

So far so good here, we both just disabled the ink monitor and still going refilling the Cannon Carts the printer came with. Although we did ruin 1 tank, some super old ink I had messed up the Magenta tank for an IP4200 and Cannon I850, both printers were refilled same time and stopped printing red same time. I actaully think it could have been the container they put the ink into was contaminated some way and made the ink gell. Heck the inks was a near empty quart bottle I bought many years ago, so no big deal, I just had to buy 2 new Cannon carts, 1 for each printer, and all was well again.

Being the gelled BLOB of red goo that was in the yogurt cup my daughter showed me, I think something cuased it and the ink was not actaully bad. Still, $20 bottle of ink, TONS and TONS of refills, buying 2 new carts, still saved $1000 in inks at least over the years.

I am using bulk ink from Ink-refills-ink.com for both my I850 and IP4200 and have been very happy with them for over a year now. I buy lots of ink at once, so I have not bought often but have bought and used allot!

The great thing about the Cannon single tanks is they are clear and you can see the ink levels.
Drill a small hole in top of cartrig, suck ink into syringe, slowly squirt ink into tank till full, squirt rest of ink back into bottle. Hot glue over the hole and press alittle for a good seal. Refill all the tanks fast with no real mess!
You do need to save the twist off caps that you snap off the bottom of the tanks when new, you hold those in place tight while refilling so ink does not come out the bottom untill after you hot glue the hole shut on top.
It's nice to have a syringe for each tank so you can just do them all at once then rinse them with clean water and be done. With 1 syringe you need to rinse between each color but ti works ok.

Syringes are plenty full and cheap, check pet stores or feed stores etc.. $0.49 for the last ones I bought. I use them for other things also like squirting glue under a floor tile or such that is loose or bubbled up and can't get to the back side.

[Traveller55]

I have an iP4300 - how do you disable the ink monitor on that please as the software makes no difference?!

[overloaded_ide]

I disabled mine awhile back for Ip4200 and forgot for sure, but I think when the low ink warning came up there was an option right there, or after I refilled I got a warning popup about not using canon inks and a disable option there perhaps.

[handyguy]

You can get chips with refill sets on ebay.

[Traveller55]

Hi Handy - maybe you could post a link please?

[Bjs]

You can get generic carts , but you must use the chip from your original carts ... there is NO resetter as yet .

This next link tells the story about RECYCLED carts .

http://www.atlanticinkjet.com/inkjet-products-canon-i-series-IP4200.asp

This link gives a few ideas and differences between some products .

http://pixma.damnmachine.com/category/ink-refills/

just incase the page is removed , here's the pic I though not a bad method .



Time to drag your toolkits out of the shed and get busy .

[handyguy]

ranch, it's easy, just visit Ebay.com input for a search something like, say : Canon iP4300

Lots & lots of ink for sale.

"The Continuous Ink Supply System (CISS) for the for CANON IP4300 IP5300 MP600 MP810 simply fits into your existing printer replacing the need for expensive printer ink cartridges with a simple but very effective high quality bulk ink delivery system."
Item number: 320126646759

That one isn't USA, but look for ones that are.

[Bjs]

This person sells in ebay here in au , and store is http://stores.ebay.com/RIHAC-Solutions .

Ships world wide .

Anyway , they sell the unit for canon models , IP4300 , IP5300 , MP600 and MP810

Now as for these ciss systems , in particular for cannon printers , they should come with a notice

This product requires the use of the genuine cartridge chips from your Canon cartridges. Our instructions explain how to remove, and affix them to our CISS cartridges. Our manual also covers how to disable the the ink monitoring when the chip indicates empty. This product is not sanctioned or manufactured by Canon and users must be aware that the use of any third party cartridges and/or CISS systems may void your printer warranty.

This is because there is NO tool available to reset the original chip ink level count for canon chips , and why you must disable the ink level warning in the printers software .

They should also note other important facts :

A: Make sure there is no air in the feed lines connected to the cartridges
B: Do not place ciss ink containers higher than print head level
C: Recommend only for printers out of warrantee

D: Fit a collection container to the waste pad

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If you have a ciss system for your printer , and original oem carts , take a closer look when comparing them .

The oem has a label on the side , and printed on it is the words "do not remove" ... why you ask ?

It contains a circuit which is required to check ink levels ... which ciss carts do not have .

Now you know why my ciss lines are actually physically connected to genuine OEM carts ... its not rocket science .

The chip also contains specific data :

A: "best use by date" ... which could be considered as a dirty trick , but one has to think it was a genuine effort to care for the end customer to make sure the ink was used before it had a chance to perish ... still looking into why

B: Contains oem cart info , which is why you need to remove the chip from an canon oem cart , and to attach it to non-oem carts , such as in the case for certain ciss systems ... that would be all new printers anyway .

Atleast for the moment , epsom users can atleast use a chip reset device .

[exporters]

Thinking of buying a PIXMA i5300. Have been filling i965 carts for a long time and wondered how one can "disable the ink level warning in the printers software" in the Canon chip carts? Will that over ride the 'disable' that Canon have built in to their carts when they run low/empty?

Appreciate any views please.