Head cleaning on the 4900

[Mike Guilbault]

I've got a few inks running low on my 4900.  I try to run a cleaning cycle but it says that there is not enough ink and to replace the cartridge.  Now I know that I can swap out the cartridge for a new one, do the cleaning and re-insert the old cartridge to continue printing. However, I've got 4 cartridges that are running low (the warning icon is blinking), but it doesn't tell me which of these is the one causing the need to swap out the cartridge.

Is there any way of telling which one needs swapping, or am I forced to swap out all of them for the cleaning?

[Wayne Fox]

I've got a few inks running low on my 4900.  I try to run a cleaning cycle but it says that there is not enough ink and to replace the cartridge.  Now I know that I can swap out the cartridge for a new one, do the cleaning and re-insert the old cartridge to continue printing. However, I've got 4 cartridges that are running low (the warning icon is blinking), but it doesn't tell me which of these is the one causing the need to swap out the cartridge.

Is there any way of telling which one needs swapping, or am I forced to swap out all of them for the cleaning?

Have you tried cleaning just pairs, so eliminating it down to two colors?  You may also be able to tell by going to the ink levels in the status menu (although this isn't much better than just trying to figure out the low ones by looking at the main display).  The other thing to consider is if any of them are smaller cartridges.  The display is based on a percentage of the cartridge without regards to cartridge size, so a 150 cartridge with 15mls left will show the same amount of ink as a 350 ml cartridge with 35ml's left.

[Mike Guilbault]

The 4900 only has one size cartridge, 200ml, so that won't help.  But I'll have to look up how to do just the pairs.  That sounds like a good option.  Thanks Wayne.

[dgberg]

The 4900 only has one size cartridge, 200ml, so that won't help.  But I'll have to look up how to do just the pairs.  That sounds like a good option.  Thanks Wayne.

Isn't it shipped with 80ml carts? So it could have a combination of 80 and 200ml carts loaded.
I believe Wayne was just referring to his cart sizes in his 7900.
A pairs clean will save you a ton of ink over time.

[Mike Guilbault]

It's shipped with 200ml cartridges but with only 80ml of ink.

[dgberg]

Shoulda known!
Cheap buggers, you think they could have filled them full.

[Wayne Fox]

Not true. The 4900 is shipped with 80ml cartridges. Yes they are physically the same size as the 200's but the printer knows and treats them as  80 ml cartridge.  That was my point, if a cartridge shows less 10% remaining if it is one of the starter cartridges it is below 8 ml and maybe too low to do a nozzle clean.  If it is a new cartridge it might be more like 20ml and this prob be ok for a nozzle clean. sorry I didn't use example sizes appropriate for the model.

[Mike Guilbault]

Now that's interesting.  My Green and Orange are still original.  I guess when they're all using the 200ml, the supply info will be more accurate across the board.  I still have to try out the pairs cleaning when I'm back in the studio on Tuesday. 

[davidh202]

I Switched to Auto clean and the 'too low' messages are a thing of the past. Even though I have 1% -3% indicated on a few carts the printer will still clean itself.
It was a real pain when I had to switch out 2-4 carts to do a cleaning (even a pair), and then wind up replacing the old ones to continue printing.

[Mike Guilbault]

Looks like I'm going to have to read the manual again.... don't ya just hate that!