refilled HP cartridges; reset the chip??

[ttodd]

I have a dilema here that I hope Virtualdr. can help or direct me with. I have a HP printer photosmart 1215 series and i wanted to save some money from their high priced color cartridges, and had mine refilled at a respectable retail business in which they refilled the same cartrdidge with reputable quality filled ink. The printed materials the cartridge produces is beautiful, and I am very happy with the results. But I find after installing the same cartidge back I still get the 'error message reading that my cartridge was low and I should replace the said cartridge'. I then did some investigation and found this site ,where it said :"All cartridges can be refilled with ink but the ink used must be the correct sort for the cartridge. There is no universal ink for inkjet printers. Print head cartridges are usually worth refilling provided that you get exactly the right ink. If you want to refill your cartridges, it is best to top them up before they run out. (Treat them like the fuel tank in your car.) The very latest cartridges from Hewlett Packard and Epson have chips in them to record the amount of ink used among other things. If the chip says that the cartridge is empty, refilling is useless. I have found an almost new cartridge that suffered from this problem. The chip said it was empty although it was 95% full. There was no way out except to buy another new cartridge to get the printer working again." Upon finding this, It would seem I would never actually know if the cartridge was empty or not, and
buying a new one at $20 more would be the remedy. BUT, I believe there is a trick somewhere on the net that would allow me to 'reset' the chip. .Is this True ????

[Eman48451]

Info on your cartridges can be found herehttp://www.stratitec.com/inkrefill/17.html and here
http://www.stratitec.com/inkrefill/16.html

I use universal ink from Stratitec in my HP photosmart 7350 and
my photos turn out great! Althought I have to follow a certain proceedure to reset the ink cartridge to show full. Also,once you go to their web site, you can send them an email and ask them about your ink cartridges showing empty.They are very helpful.
Both color cartridges in my computer would cost about $60. and I refill them myself for about $3. Quite a savings and its easy to do.
Good luck and post back.

Remember HP and most others dont want you to refill and will make it as hard as possible on you to keep you from doing this. Thats why they sell their printers cheap and more than makeup the difference with high priced ink cartridges.

[jenae]

Hi this is a good subject as it can save many of us some money. We have found that the trick to refilling cartridges is to do it when they are near to half full, or half empty( depending upon your marketing objective) this seems to create the highest level of success.

[Eman48451]

Hi again, Resetting your ink levels can be found here
http://www.stratitec.com/inkrefill/s.../hplowink.html
good luck and post back.

[ttodd]

IT WORKED !!! I can't believe by putting some simple scotch tape on the cartridge and folowing these instructions it worked. The whole procedure took less than minute or two..
Thanks Eman !!

[photolady]

I've wondered too if this will work with my Epson printer.

It's good advice for HP users anyway....

[Eman48451]

Many ink cartridges can be refilled. However, some of new Epsons
are not refillable. due to their circuitry.

Hi photolady, Go to http://www.stratitec.com/

and lookup your printer model and see if your ink cartridges can be refilled and reset. If you need help let us know.

[photolady]

Eman48451.....Thanks. I went to that site and did a search found that they will reset the chips for less then it costs me to buy new ink. Also, there was a website on that page where I can buy a resetter. I might go this way. Now I have to find the type of inks my printer uses. Archival inks. Since my printer if out of warranty, I see no reason I shouldn't attempt refilling them myself.

[Jayt36]

Thanks for all the useful information posted above. I would note, however, that Lexmark has a chip in their ink cartidges that prevents them from being refilled. A company in N.C. manufactures a chip that would allow this restriction to be by-passed. Lexmark sued the manufacturer of that chip under the DMCA act and has gotten a court injunction against the company. Since the printers being sold by Dell are mostly manufactured by Lexmark, you might want to know what you are buying before you get stuck.

[photolady]

Thanks for the insight. However, this company I found is not manufacturing any chips. Just resetting them. I'm not sure that falls under copyrights with patents. I guess we'll just have to wait and see, huh?

[Eman48451]

IMHO I would never buy a printer, where the ink cartridges couldn't be refilled or reset. I hate being held hostage to proprietary items.
Just my two cents.

eman

[jerryctx]

Lexmark won that lawsuit last week, although the decision may be appealed. If it stands, you can be sure all the other manufacturers will follow suit.

[PGelsman]

Hi, I just acquired a similar program that will perform this procedure on an Epson Inkjet. Contact me via Email if youwant it.
IT seems it won't post here even though its very small.
Paul

[Jayt36]

Lexmark won that lawsuit last week, although the decision may be appealed. If it stands, you can be sure all the other manufacturers will follow suit.

I am not sure the Canon will follow suit. It is my experience that Canon cartridges are the easiest of all to re-fill. I have a Canon i550 with the 4 cartridges, and they are extremely easy to refill. They only cost about $10.00 each if you buy them new

[alphanumeric]

Originally posted by photolady
I've wondered too if this will work with my Epson printer.

It's good advice for HP users anyway....

I have an Epson stylus color 777. I refill my cartridges and know how to reset them using the printer and a spare full cartridge. When the printer software prompts you to replace an empty cartridge this is what you do. Take the empty out and refill it. Put a new full cartridge back in. Wait till the printer resets the ink levels and says ready to print. Without turning the printer off reach in and pull the cartridge tray back to the center. If you lift it up a little it comes over pretty easy. Take the new cartridge out and put in the refill, then push the try back to the park position. Now print a Test page and the printer will load an almost full value into the chip on the refill cartridge. Put scotch tap on the good full cartridge and put it away for next time. Works on the color and black cartridges.