Verify iPF8300 Low Ink Warning

[Robcat]

I’m getting a low ink warning “Not much ink is left, prepare to replace ink” on the (330 mL) GY cartridge of my iPF8300 and the printer status tab shows a yellow exclamation mark (but of course no quantitative ink level). Pretty normal printer behavior, but thing is, I’ve had it just over a year and done what I feel is a modest amount of printing (virtually all color).  The status monitor accounting manager “show ink and paper consumed” command gives total ink consumption at 1152 mL. All the colors are each in the 80 mL range, and MBK is 134 mL, BK 113 and GY 138. Paper consumption is 666 A4 equivalents and about 42 square meters. Since the tanks are 330 mL, even given line priming, cleaning, etc. it strikes me as odd that I should be running out.

A couple questions:

• Does my amount of printing seem enough to run out a tank?
• Is the “ink consumed” data that wildly inaccurate?
• Is there any other way to verify amount of ink remaining in a tank?
• Do you wait to replace the tank until the “no ink left” notice comes up?

Thanks,
Rob P

[KenBabcock]

That seems about right.  You will find though that it'll take quite a few more prints before you actually run out completely.

I change mine when it is empty.

[bill t.]

That's about right.  The reported "Accounting" numbers do not include the amount of ink it took to fill the lines etc when charging up the system.

With my 8300 I initially kept some notes.  My original GY cart started the exclamation mark at 122ml, then demanded replacement at 127ml.  Other carts were very close to those numbers.  For most colors I can print another 80 or so square feet between the first exclamation point appearance and the mandatory change.

My old Epsons would pause for a replacement in the middle of a print when a cart went dry.  The 8300 makes me change carts before starting a print, presumably when it calculates there's not enough ink to complete the print.  I have always just waited for the mandatory change message and that has never caused a bad print.

Internally the 8300 seems to have a very accurate notion of how much ink is really left in the cart...my fondest wish is that it would be a little more generous about sharing that info!

FWIW an empty 330ml cart weighs 113 grams versus 461 grams for a full one.  I measured the weights of the first 8 or carts I removed, they were all within about a gram of 113 grams.

[Robcat]

That's very helpful, thanks very much to both of you.
Darn, and I just missed putting a GY cartridge on my Xmas wish list 
Rob P
www.porterartphotos.com

[MHMG]

Perhaps I'm wrong, but my sense is that the iPF8300 uses a gravity feed system from its ink cartridges. There appears to be a secondary reservoir that fills in the machine (hence the need to execute a "move" sequence if you ever want to move the printer to another location). I haven't reached an empty cartridge on my 8300 yet, but I also had an 8100 and you can pull a cartridge from the ipf 8100/8300 machines and shake it gently to determine if you are throwing away any ink. If totally empty you won't hear or feel any ink in the cartridge. Just a guess since I haven't gotten there yet on my iPF8300, but you may find very little or even no ink in the cartridge (some will remain, of course, in the printer's secondary reservoir) when the ink low signal activates.

Let us know what you find

cheers,
Mark

[cfrepro]

Rob
Your story sounds like mine was several weeks ago. I had printed about the same as you. On Jan 5, 9 cartridges showed full and 3 showed 60% and the maintenance cartridge showed 60%. I turned on the printer on the 6th and the PG showed a warning after being full the previous day. I was concerned. Over the next 10 days I only make a few prints. On the 16th I start the machine and 9 of the cartridges now read warning and 3 read 60% and the maintenance cartridge read 20%.     What the heck is going on??

I have weighed the cartridges and they are close to empty. I know there is ink in the lines, but how much? 25%? If these numbers are right I made 50-60 posters at an ink cost of about $30 each. Is there something I am missing? I have talked with Canon 4 times and they say everything is normal. I cant see how.

Weigh your cartridges. You may be about to find out that all your ink is gone.

I am speaking with a supervisor Monday and if I don't get an explanation that makes sense I will be posting a detailed account of what has happened.

I look forward to hearing from you.

[bill t.]

Were those your first cartridge changes?  The level reporting I got from my initial set of carts was definitely strange.  They showed full for a long time, then very suddenly starting moving rapidly towards empty.  All subsequent carts have seemed more or less predictable.

I have rarely had more than two carts in warning mode at the same time.  If you're getting strange behavior I would recommend weighing the maintenance tank occasionally, just for accounting purposes.  And record the ink use data in the "Accounting" screen once in a while, I believe that to be accurate as to total ink usage, although maybe not for cartridge levels.  Does ink seep when the printer is off? I don't think so but anything is possible.  I have not seen any suspicious ink wastage, but I usually print every day with no long inactive spells.

The only big jump I ever saw on the maintenance tank was when I changed the right print head, that took it immediately down to 60% after being at 100% for a few weeks, but I don't recall seeing any outrageous changes in cart levels except a 20% jump on the photo black that I rarely use.

I have once in a while seen sudden jumps in the cartridge level graphs, but at times when I was already wondering why the cart was still so full after a lot of printing.  For instance a 700ml Yellow went when from warning to replacement in less than 40 square feet, which maybe shouldn't have surprised me since Yellow is the most used color.  I have never taken a cart out and found that it was not really empty, however.

Canon needs to improve cartridge level reporting.  I know perfectly well from things like the "Accounting" data that the printer knows perfectly well how much ink it is using.  Are they trying to hide something from us?  I don't think so, but I would like to be kept more in the loop on that stuff, or at least read a helpful FAQ somewhere about it.  Maybe I'll start writing down the Accounting ink levels whenever I change a cart.

But if this is the worst it's gonna do, count me happy.   

[cfrepro]

Bill this was my first set and they were supposed to be 330ml's.

According to the accounting manager I have only printed about 300ml. How much ink is used in filling the lines and cartridges? One blog said 15ml per cartridge.

I want to weigh my maintenance cartridge to see how much ink is in there. What is the weight of an empty maintenance cartridge?

How many prints did you get on your first set of 130 ml cartridges?

[bill t.]

I only got about 140 ml each out of the first set of cartridges.  More than half of each cart was used to prime the machine, as far as I can tell.  I suspect different amounts are used from each cart during priming, because the order in which I changed the first cartridges was not the order of the cartridges I use most.

A brand new maintenance cartridge weighs 499 grams as you put it into the machine, I have never weighed a full one.  There is probably at least some evaporation from the maintenance carts so weight alone may or may not tell the whole story.

Lemme know what you find out.

[mstevensphoto]

FWIW several cartridges in I frond that no matter what flavor of printing I'm doing my gray tanks go much faster than the others.
I don't think weighing the maintenance cartridge will get you anywhere, a lot evaporates.
there is an incredible amount of ink stored in the printer and the measurement systems are not even close to accurate. I've gone weeks with a cartridge that said it was needing replacement soon. every time the printer has told me I MUST replace a tank because it is out I've discovered that it really seems to be out - nothing sloshes or leaks and it feels empty.

[deanwork]

This 8300 printer of ours has a deep ink storage compartment that holds a whole lot of ink. The cart may be almost totally empty while the printer has a lot of ink left. However, it's almost impossible to tell HOW much. It does make big jumps in the display. They Do definitely need to revisit this ink reporting mechanism. It is by far the least accurate of the big three. Other than that this printer has been fantastic for me. You just turn it on and print, no hassles.

john