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Author Topic: Epson 7900 troubles  (Read 1848 times)

Philipp

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Epson 7900 troubles
« on: October 21, 2009, 08:46:53 am »

Dear all,

I red a lot of articles in this forum about variouse problems with the Epson 7900 printer. I own one myself and I keep having problems with it. Besides I want to mention, that the printing quality is excellent, which is why I sill have this printer active.

My printer used to make cleanings at random times, even if all nozzles where perfectly clean (due to a nozzleprint). I am in contact with Epson Support in Germany since months, I have been sent  two special Firmware versions, which were supposed to solve the problem, Epson even changed the whole Cleaningsection of the printer with a "special adopted" version. But I still keep having these problems that cost me so much ink, time and money.

Can anyone reproduce this phenomenoms (these are the ones I can reproduce, the other ones are random):

- When switching from MK to PK oder PK to MK the process bar appears, goes from 0 to 100% them the printer reports "ready" again. When sending the next printjob or printing an nozzleprint from the printers menu, the printer starts a full cleaning every time. This cleaning will almost everytime clean black and light black. This even happens when I print an nozzleprint and have NO clogging at all and then switch black inks. According to Epson this is not normal and should not appear, well it does every time and pumps about 20-40ml ink into the maintainance tank.

- When I switching on the printer and print a nozzleprint from the printers menu and I find any clogging, I perform a standard cleaning or a cleaning of the affected pairs. Even if the light black ink had no clogging at all and was not one of the colors I selected to lean, it will be extensively cleaned every time (3-5% at 350ml cartridges). This is why my light black is at 18% while all other cartridges are at an average of 63%, and this is why I now always start the printer in maintainance mode to do a cleaning that will only clean what I say.

Please let me know if there are other printers with the same problems out there.

Well, Epson is going to change two other parts of my printer in about two weeks, we will see if this resolves these issues.

Thanks for your feedback!

Philipp
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mikev1

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Epson 7900 troubles
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2009, 11:01:48 am »




Hi  Phiipp, yes there are a number of us who are having the same problems you are.  At least Epson support told you it wasn't normal.  I was told that is the way it is.  

Many of us do the ink switching in service mode which is different than maintenance mode.  This way you can do a nozzle check and control the cleaning without triggering a full clean.  I've found that doing the ink switching in service mode and then printing a nozzle check almost always shows some "clogs".  I think it is usually air bubbles though.  I believe that something happening during the switching is causing a drop in pressure or introducing air into the lines.

The CL1 clean seems to be using far less ink.

You can get into service mode by holding down the right, down, and center buttons as you turn on the printer.

Mike
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Ryan Grayley

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Epson 7900 troubles
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2009, 12:11:07 pm »

And turn off the ANC if you haven't already.
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Ryan Grayley BA IEng MIET ARPS
RGB Arts Ltd, London, UK

Philipp

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Epson 7900 troubles
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2009, 02:23:19 pm »

Hi!

Thanks for your replies!

I forgot to mention that ANC etc. is turned off. The Firmware versions Epson Support sent me where adjusted to tell the printer to do minimal cleanings when ever needed. Actually I did not recognize any change in the ink consumption when cleanings appeared.

I already use the maintainance mode for cleanings when clogs appear. I also noticed that CL1 cleanings - on color pairs - use far less ink then normal cleanings.

I did not know that I can do the ink switching in maintainance mode and that this would be any different from normal mode. Is this done threw the menu or using the standard button?

By the way: Epson support told me, that there is no way to deactivate the automatic nozzle check once and for all, even for them. Even when ANC is turned off the printer will perform checks at certain times. Those Firmware version sent to me should have done the maximum deactivation that is possible for them - as already mentioned no noticeable change compared to ANC turned off.

Regards,

Philipp
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Mulis Pictus

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Epson 7900 troubles
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2009, 04:07:35 pm »

Quote from: Philipp
I did not know that I can do the ink switching in maintainance mode and that this would be any different from normal mode. Is this done threw the menu or using the standard button?
Using the standard black ink switch button. I forgot about doing it last time in the service mode and I was able to avoid the check/clean by printing the next job/pattern from the service mode. So I think the important thing is to do the 1st print after switch in service mode.

Mulis

Wayne Fox

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Epson 7900 troubles
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2009, 04:58:25 pm »

Quote from: Philipp
By the way: Epson support told me, that there is no way to deactivate the automatic nozzle check once and for all, even for them. Even when ANC is turned off the printer will perform checks at certain times. Those Firmware version sent to me should have done the maximum deactivation that is possible for them - as already mentioned no noticeable change compared to ANC turned off.


Some clarification.  Epson support cannot deactivate all nozzles checks, but certainly the firmware could be changed to any activity Epson chooses... including never doing a nozzle check.  This would affect 100% of all users, and they certainly can't maintain multiple versions of firmware so it doesn't make sense because for some applications ink waste may be more acceptable than time and print waste, and when working AID/ANC works wonderfully for this and doesn't cause serious ink waste.

In service mode neither cleaning nor swapping inks are followed by a nozzle check (which of course means they are never followed by a cleaning cycle).  You can print the manual nozzle check from the computer, and clean appropriately, and as you've discovered CL1 uses a minimal amount of ink.

That being said, the very latest version of the firmware (HN01699) released a couple of weeks ago (and still not available in all markets) changes the behavior of the printer when ANC is off.  Documentation from Epson Australia confirms this disables all nozzle checks (and any resulting cleanings) except when the printer is initially filled and when doing black ink swaps. Previously this option only disabled nozzle checks before printing a print but had no affect on nozzle checks when cleaning) With this new firmware it means if ANC is turned off the result is much closer to what one would expect from the description ... it is pretty much off and most importantly won't happen after a cleaning cycle.

 In addition it appears doing a cleaning in normal mode now utilizes around the same or only slightly more ink than a CL1 cleaning from service mode.  I am no longer using service mode, I find turning ANC off now offers enough control to avoid the massive ink drains that can occur if your AID circuitry is too sensitive or just defective.

(I have a couple of write ups on my site if anyone is interested ... I rarely link to my own site and apologize for doing so but perhaps the info might be helpful to some.  Check them out if you want New Firmware for 79/9900 and Tips on using an Epson 7900)

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