Epson 7900 maintenance tank - user emptyable?

[PeterAit]

Always willing to save a few bucks!

[shadowblade]

Yep - just pour it out, replace the saturated sponges with a few cheap kitchen sponges (or a roll of toilet paper) and reset the chip.

[Paul2660]

Easy to do, problem is you have to reset the chip.  Chip reseters for the 9880's were very cheap, around 20.00.  So far all I have found on the 9900/7900 cost around 100.00 to 125.00 and I can buy plenty of new tanks 3 at least.  If you find a chip resetting device in the 40 to 50 range, I am also interested.  

As for padding, anything absorbing works, plus, you can move the left one to the right just as the right side gets to around 90%.  The almost full right now in the left will sit there for a least 9 months before it finally gets full.  All the ink goes to the right tank. And unless you do a lot of full sized prints i.e 24" full bleed, it seems the left tank does very little.  It's used during PK and MK swaps, I have tested that.  

Paul

[PeterAit]

Is the chip resetting necessary? Will the printer stop working when the chip "thinks" the tank is full? Otherwise, why not just empty the tank every so often?

[Garnick]

Is the chip resetting necessary? Will the printer stop working when the chip "thinks" the tank is full? Otherwise, why not just empty the tank every so often?

Hi Peter,

Yes, the chip is set for a certain number of print jobs(pages) and simply emptying the tank before it's full will not do the job.  Eventually, even if you may have just emptied the tank, the chip will indicate to the printer that the tank is indeed full and you will not be able to print.  As far as "sponges" or any other sort of absorbent material is concerned I haven't used it in any of my maintenance tanks for many years, it's not necessary.  The only thing I would advise is that if you are planning to move the printer around in your workplace, you might want to remove the tank first so that the ink won't slosh around and perhaps then require a clean up after ward.  Also, be a bit more cautious when removing the tank for emptying since the ink is of course prone to move about as you are doing so.  It takes about 10 seconds to discover how to to this and not cause splatter problems.  Otherwise, not an issue.  If however you do feel the need for some sort of absorbent material in the tank, buy the cheapest feminine hygiene pads you can find.  They work very well also.

You can find the chip resetter at this site for $70 U.S -- http://www.inksupply.com/product-details.cfm?pn=SK128.  Over the years I've bought three of them for various printers and they all work flawlessly.  Read the instructions carefully!  For the x900 series printers you must reset the chip before it reaches the 15% point.  Otherwise the printer may not accept it.  On one tank I forgot to check and it was at 10% when I pulled it.  Of course it will reset, but I was doubting that it would work.  Fortunately it did work, but I wouldn't advise that you make that your routine resetting point.  I think I was just lucky with that one and I've been more cautious since.

Hope this helps Peter.

Gary     

[Peter McLennan]

My 4800 and my 9800 use the same waste tank.  I've reset all three of them several times each. I bought two chip resetters from ink supply.com a few years ago when I installed funnel-fill carts for each printer. I use cotton balls as an absorbent.

The only problem I experience is becoming aware of the appalling quantity of ink these printers pump overboard.

[Ken Doo]

I use Epson Maintenance tank refills from www.tastarsupply.com

It's pretty easy to reset the chips.  If you have a second printer in the 48/78/9800 series, that will also reset the chips when using the older resetter----allowing the tank to then be used in your 9900 series....

[PeterAit]

Thanks to everyone for the info.

[Paul2660]

If you get a chip resettled make sure it's for the 9900/7900 as all of the printers (7600 thought 9900) take the same M/A tank but there are different chip resetters needed by generation of printer.

Paul

[Pat O'Connor]

I use Epson Maintenance tank refills from www.tastarsupply.com

It's pretty easy to reset the chips.  If you have a second printer in the 48/78/9800 series, that will also reset the chips when using the older resetter----allowing the tank to then be used in your 9900 series....

Got this to work once many months ago but no matter what sequence I use I can't get my 7890 to recognise my reset 4800 tank anymore

[Ken Doo]

It may be that the chip has finally gone bad, or even your chip resetter. Sometimes it helps to remove the battery in the chip resetter for a minute or replace it.

I haven't had to use this workaround for awhile as my 9900 resetter works well (same for 9890 I believe), but otherwise I can use my resetter for the 48/78/9800 series, and then slide that reset cartridge into my old 4800 printer, turn it on to let it initialize and register the reset tank. Remove the tank and insert into my 9900---and it works. I use my 4800 for greeting cards; it simply won't die. And it makes for one of the world's largest chip resetters for the 9900 when needed...

ken

[Pat O'Connor]

Thanks for reply. I have reset 3 different maintenance tanks today that the 4800 accepts, but none are subsequently recognised by the 7890 (after following your sequence). Which of course makes it all the more mysterious why it worked months ago. No choice but to buy a new one in the short term but I will remember your procedure for when it runs full (assuming my 4800 is as bullet-proof as yours).
Regards
Pat

[Garnick]

Hello Pat,

If you read my earlier post on this thread you might recall that in order for a reset tank to work with the 9900 it must be reset before it reaches the 15% mark.  Since I have never used the aforementioned procedure of resetting in another printer and then transferring to the 9900 I cannot comment on that, but the 15% mark comes directly from inksupply.com from which I purchased my resetter for the 9900.  Perhaps the tank you've been trying to reset recently was totally full by the time you actually emptied it, which might explain the problem you're having with it.  If you do buy a new tank, make sure you don't let it get below 15% before trying to reset the chip, that might work.  Of course all of this is based on the 9900 chip resetter and may not have any bearing on the x800 series printers, not sure.  I hope this helps.

Gary      

[Pat O'Connor]

Hi Gary,
I had read your post when it was originally posted a few weeks ago and forgot to heed the advice when it came to the crunch. I am not near my printer at the moment, but, if you could clarify (it would be a great help), from which menu can you ascertain the % left in the maintenance tank?
Regards
Pat

[Garnick]

Hi Gary,
I had read your post when it was originally posted a few weeks ago and forgot to heed the advice when it came to the crunch. I am not near my printer at the moment, but, if you could clarify (it would be a great help), from which menu can you ascertain the % left in the maintenance tank?
Regards
Pat

Hi Pat,

On the Control Panel, push the Menu Button, then the Down(paper advance) Button to Printer Status, then the Menu Button again, Down Button again to Maintenance Tank.  There you will see the % of empty space in the left and right Maintenance Tanks.  If you're not using the left tank it will of course always show 100% empty.  Don't let either the left or right tank get below 15% before pulling the tank, emptying it and resetting the chip.  The easier way of course is to check the printed info below the nozzle check pattern that you print.  The second line shows the status of the Maintenance Tanks.

Gary    

[Pat O'Connor]

Thank you Gary.
I really should have known the nozzle check variant as I find it necessary to print one almost every day!
A case of one's nose obscuring whats in front of it.

Regards

Pat

[Garnick]

Thank you Gary.
I really should have known the nozzle check variant as I find it necessary to print one almost every day!
A case of one's nose obscuring whats in front of it.

Regards

Pat

You're very welcome Pat.  Believe me, I know the feeling.  It took more than a year working with my first 7600 before I actually paid any attention to the information printed below the nozzle pattern, and I always print a check every day before I start my production runs.  Sometimes two or three a day when I have large prints or canvas on the go.  There's nothing more frustrating than finishing a large print and finding banding issue that could have been detected and cure prior to the printing.  I hope you'll have good luck with your maintenance tanks and resetters in the future.

Gary

[jlabate]

What does everyone do with the waste ink?  How do I dispose of it properly?