On 14/01/2022 12:44, Dale wrote:
I researched and found a couple places that claimed if you refill the
cartridges before they were about empty, then it would keep working.
However, other people said the chip prints a specific number of pages
and then shows empty whether it is or not. I know when my cartridges
claimed being empty, I could hear the toner shaking around in there.
I'm just not sure how much was in there. I'm thinking it is the later
because I've read that the chip must be replaced because it counts pages
not measure toner. It has no reset button.
I'm thinking about testing the theory tho. Just buy a bottle of toner,
whatever is getting below half full, and then filling it back up. Print
and see what happens. If the level goes up, it works and can be
refilled. If it doesn't and stops at the preset number of pages, then
the chip must be replaced when filling.
If you have info about someone actually doing this, I'd be interested in
reading their postings about it. The toner isn't half bad price wise.
I believe it depends on the manufacturer (surprise surprise).
My HP counts "pages from new" until it's used 10%, then when it gets to
ten times that it throws up a WARNING that the cartridge is empty and
needs replacing. But it doesn't stop printing (and I think that last is
true for all HPs).
So we've had cartridges just keep going and going, because it got used
for a bunch of photos when new, then just colour documents, and it's
been moaning "empty" for over half the cartridge's life.
Other manufacturers do stop when they think the cartridge is empty "to
protect the printer".
But HP has (afaik) always put the more consumable stuff into the
cartridge, so if you "abuse" it beyond end-of-life the printer itself is
unaffected. Other manufacturers (eg Brother) split consumables out into
replaceable items (like the toner belt).
Oh - and when our cartridges look like they're empty, I always give them
a shake because that often knocks toner out of the nooks and crannies
into the usable path, but it's a big warning that the cartridge does
need replacing ...
Cheers,
Wol
