Keep Epson P7000 Asleep or Powered Off for 3 weeks?

[DeanChriss]

Does anyone know if the head is capped (seated against the capping station) when the printer is powered on and asleep? Here's why I ask:

I'm planning to be away for about three weeks. I have set up my (windows) computer with Irfanview as a scheduled task to wake up the computer and print a 24" wide line of colored squares, which wakes the printer from sleep. That works perfectly and it is currently set to do that once every 3 days. To do this one has to turn off the "power off timer" which would otherwise automatically power off the printer by default after 8 hours. Under normal circumstances Epson obviously thinks the printer should be powered off, but based on the manual that is for power efficiency. The manual also says that the printer should be powered on at least every 2 weeks to prevent clogging. I use the printer at least once per week when I'm home, but when I travel it's almost always for two or more weeks.

But... I happened to notice that while the printer is asleep it occasionally does something that makes noise for a few seconds, with about 4 or 5 "pulses" of noise per second. It sounds like it's spitting ink or wiping the head, but that's purely a guess. I don't think there is any head movement but haven't been right next to the printer when it happens so I'm not absolutely sure. I know there's no large head movement as happens when doing an auto nozzle check/cleaning. My point is that if the head is not seated against the capping station and the printer is doing something to maintain the head because of that, I'm not sure if it's better to turn the printer off or keep it asleep for most of 3 weeks and print something automatically every few days with Irfanview. Any insights to share?

Edited to add detail and fix typos.

[tonyrom]

Hi Dean, I have a 7000 and I leave it on all the time.  I have been gone for 2 weeks at times and come back to do a print, I do a nozzle check, and no segments are missing which I think is pretty good.  The head is definitely parked over the cap when idle.  I spoke with Martin (long time Epson service guy) and he said leaving it on was best.  Being Energy Star, I suspect it is using very little power.  You can force a auto cleaning to happen in the settings but I have not changed it.  Now, I leave in Seattle which doesn't really have a low humidity problem.  Not sure if this has an impact where you live.

[Wayne Fox]

But... I happened to notice that while the printer is asleep it occasionally does something that makes noise for a few seconds, with about 4 or 5 "pulses" of noise per second.

personally I turn mine off.  I often go a week to 4 weeks between printing here at my house with my p9000.  The printer seems to do a nozzle check and sometimes a clean when I power it up, but doubtful it's using much more ink than running cleaning/maintenance pages, most of the cleaning cycles only use a ml or two of ink.  Most of the time mine is fine and it doesn't run a cleaning cycle.

but whatever works.  I've never talked to anyone at Epson that recommends leaving it on.  But at this point I don't think it matters much, and leaving it on is the only way to prevent a nozzle check and potential clean when the printer starts up.  Unfortunately the ANC is still prone to false positives, and to me  a few missing  nozzles, depending on the colors and proximity to each other doesn't mean I need to clean and will most likely clear up running a few test prints.

Regarding the noise you mentioned I've noticed that as well.  I know when the head is parked it puts some negative (vacuum) pressure in the capping station assembly. To me it sounds like it's just making sure that negative pressure remains while the printer is idle, which would be a good thing. I don't think it's ink, if so it's so short it would be pretty insignificant.

[DeanChriss]

Thanks very much to both of you for the info. It really sounds like I could just leave the printer sit for three weeks, whether asleep or powered off, and if there are clogs when I get back they should clear with a normal cleaning or two. I have yet to see a clogged nozzle on the P7000. I previously had a 7900 and had no significant problems leaving it powered off for up to 5 weeks a couple times per year for over 7 years. There would sometimes be clogs when I returned but normal cleanings cleared them without issue. The P7000 should be at least as good.

Something to note about the "Timer Cleaning" function, which I investigated endlessly:

The printer does exactly what the manual says it will do, specifically: "Performs an automatic nozzle check and head cleaning if the printer is turned on or woken from sleep mode and the printer has not printed within the set length of time."

1. The printer does not wake itself from sleep or power off under any circumstance I've been able to test, regardless of settings and whether or not paper is loaded.

2. If the printer is powered off and the set amount of time has elapsed it will check nozzles when it is turned on. A person must obviously be present to turn the printer on.

3. If the printer is asleep and the set amount of time has elapsed it will check nozzles when it will check nozzles when the next print job is sent. A person must be present to send the print job unless you have a scheduled task do it automatically, which is what I have been thinking about doing.

The Epson SC P7000 (and certainly the P9000) printers apparently do not have the ability to automatically (without help from a computer and a scheduled task) maintain their nozzles. That is contrary to what I have read in two different online reviews, but interestingly I cannot find any claims by Epson that the printer will do this. The closest thing to that I could find is a vague reference to automated cleaning that has no description of how it works. I contacted Epson support and they indicated the only automated cleaning function is the Timer Cleaning Function, which works as described above. It has its place but is definitely not a "keep the nozzles clear while I'm away" function.

See also http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=111547.0

[Wayne Fox]

The Timer Cleaning function which you describe is different than the Auto Nozzle Check feature, which is designed to keep the nozzles maintained when printing.  I would add that even though I have my Timer Cleaning function set to "Off", it will still check the nozzles and clean if the printer has been off for an extended period of time.  In fact it seems that "off" is actually the same as setting it to the max setting.  Not sure if this is a bug or intended, but it certainly doesn't do what it says it does.

The Auto Nozzle check feature can be set to check the heads periodically while actively printing despite any sleep conditions.  It can also be set to check at the start of every job, which might be useful for large unattended runs.  You can also tell the printer how many attempts to clean the nozzles are acceptable, from 1 to 3.  I'm not sure what the printer does if it cleans the specified number of attempts and still fails the ANC.  I assume it stops printing.  Initially in the 9900 it would just start printing again, but I believe Epson saw that was pretty stupid and changed it.

I'm going to enable my ANC function for a while, I'm just curious if Epson has made any progress on this feature since it was introduced.  I know some have reported it works pretty well. so far I haven’t had many issues, if I leave the printer off for an extended period of time (weeks) it sometimes does a brief clean when I power it up, but my ink levels aren’t really showing any stress and my maintenance tanks are not much different than after the initial fill.

[DeanChriss]

The Timer Cleaning function which you describe is different than the Auto Nozzle Check feature, which is designed to keep the nozzles maintained when printing.  I would add that even though I have my Timer Cleaning function set to "Off", it will still check the nozzles and clean if the printer has been off for an extended period of time.  In fact it seems that "off" is actually the same as setting it to the max setting.  Not sure if this is a bug or intended, but it certainly doesn't do what it says it does.

The Auto Nozzle check feature can be set to check the heads periodically while actively printing despite any sleep conditions.  It can also be set to check at the start of every job, which might be useful for large unattended runs.  You can also tell the printer how many attempts to clean the nozzles are acceptable, from 1 to 3.  I'm not sure what the printer does if it cleans the specified number of attempts and still fails the ANC.  I assume it stops printing.  Initially in the 9900 it would just start printing again, but I believe Epson saw that was pretty stupid and changed it.

I'm going to enable my ANC function for a while, I'm just curious if Epson has made any progress on this feature since it was introduced.  I know some have reported it works pretty well. so far I haven’t had many issues, if I leave the printer off for an extended period of time (weeks) it sometimes does a brief clean when I power it up, but my ink levels aren’t really showing any stress and my maintenance tanks are not much different than after the initial fill.

I had ANC turned on for a while and then turned it off. Turning it off seems to eliminate any nozzle checking except those that occur at power up. The odd thing is that it seems to do a nozzle check at power up even when ANC and the Timer Cleaning Function are both turned off. Based on what the manual says that should not happen, but it's OK with me if it does as there is very little ink use. In the end I settled on ANC turned off and the Timer Cleaning Function set to its maximum (60 hours) just to make sure it does a nozzle check after being off for a couple days even though it seems to do this regardless of the settings. I have always set the nozzle cleaning attempts to 1, assuming an error message like the 7900 if the cleaning attempt failed. That's just because I'd like to know about the issue and I can then do manual cleanings. But regardless of any of these settings I haven't seen any clogs or excessive ink use so I think the printer is performing well.

Thanks again for confirming these things.