# Canon maintenance cartridge chip resetters on ebay



## Kit Lens Jockey (Mar 1, 2019)

Does anyone have any experience with these little electronic tools they sell on ebay that reset the chips on the maintenance cartridges for the PRO-1000, 2000, 4000, 6000 line of printers?

I just discovered that the cartridge for the big printers is a whopping $90 from Canon.  There is no way I'm paying $90 for what is essentially just a plastic box with absorbent felt inside it. The cartridge is also very easily taken apart. If possible, in the future, I'm just going to replace the felt inside and reset the chip.

If the resetters don't work, I'm also wondering if I can just buy a new cartridge for the PRO-1000 (only $15) and swap the chip into the larger cartridge as a way of getting the printer to recognize it as a new cartridge.

I'm all about using genuine Canon ink in such an expensive printer, but spending so much on this silly maintenance cartridge is just ridiculous.


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## privatebydesign (Mar 1, 2019)

I have experience with for them on Epson printers. They work fine but you have to follow any instructions, with the Epson’s you had to reset them before they were 3/4 full as they have two electronic indicators and once the full warning is given they can’rt be reset.

Swapping chips won’t work, the printer knows the difference between the tanks.

I have also used the ink cartridge resetters and they work well too, again just follow any instructions. These were for Epson printers too.


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## privatebydesign (Mar 1, 2019)

Having said that I used to go through maintenance tanks on the Epson’s like candy, I have had the Pro-2000 for nearly two years and haven’t changed it yet.


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## Kit Lens Jockey (Mar 1, 2019)

Yeah, the cartridge for the larger printers is pretty massive. I just got a PRO-4000 used, and the cartridge is actually full. I have a feeling the last owner didn't use it like it was meant to be used and ended up wasting a lot of ink and filling the cartridge fast.

Where do you get new absorbent material to go into the cartridge? I see you can get kits that have it pre-cut on ebay, but the prices for those are almost as obscene as a new factory cartridge. I think I read it's some sort of polyester? I'm sure the actual material doesn't matter too awfully much, as long as it absorbs the ink and holds it.


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## privatebydesign (Mar 1, 2019)

New absorbent material? Panty liners, they cost $3 for more than you’ll ever need.


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## privatebydesign (Mar 1, 2019)

If you leave the printer plugged in then it will do regular check and cleaning cycles by default so people who don’t use the printer and leave it plugged in will fill the maintenance tank quicker than those that actually use the printer.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Mar 1, 2019)

Kit Lens Jockey said:


> Yeah, the cartridge for the larger printers is pretty massive. I just got a PRO-4000 used, and the cartridge is actually full. I have a feeling the last owner didn't use it like it was meant to be used and ended up wasting a lot of ink and filling the cartridge fast.
> 
> Where do you get new absorbent material to go into the cartridge? I see you can get kits that have it pre-cut on ebay, but the prices for those are almost as obscene as a new factory cartridge. I think I read it's some sort of polyester? I'm sure the actual material doesn't matter too awfully much, as long as it absorbs the ink and holds it.


For my epson 3880, I use paper towls, folding them to fit the waste tank. I can reset the waste tank any time, even when full. After a few years of alternating two tanks, one stopped resetting, so I just bought a replacement. When I get the full warning, I swap out my spare that's been refilled and reset, and then clean out and reset the other.

I ue the oversized Cone ink tanks which have two custom chips that reset any empty ink tanks or the waste tank. I have a chip resetter for my Epson 7600 but have never had to replace the maintenance tank, and only used it to reset a couple of ink tanks that incorrectly gave a empty signal when they were new. I don't refill those.


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## LDS (Mar 1, 2019)

Kit Lens Jockey said:


> I just got a PRO-4000 used, and the cartridge is actually full. I have a feeling the last owner didn't use it like it was meant to be used and ended up wasting a lot of ink and filling the cartridge fast.



Don't those printers need to flush the ink system before being transported, and that fills the cartridges?


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## privatebydesign (Mar 1, 2019)

LDS said:


> Don't those printers need to flush the ink system before being transported, and that fills the cartridges?


There are different levels of flushing for transport depending on how you are moving it. But on a complete empty/flush for a head replacement it major move Keith said it took over a tank!

Interestingly he also said Canon themselves don’t follow the guidelines when moving printers for exhibition demos.


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## Kit Lens Jockey (Mar 1, 2019)

Yeah, I'm not all about the "recommended" procedures for transporting these printers when it means plowing through two or three $90 maintenance cartridges. And based on Keith's estimates of how much ink a PRO-2000 empties out to move it (one and a half liters), you're looking at losing about *nine hundred dollars* worth of ink just to move the printer. 

I'm not saying that the need for emptying out the ink to move them is completely unnecessary. I'm sure Canon has their reasons, but I don't think avoiding the risk of moving it with ink still in it is worth over a thousand dollars of ink and maintenance cartilages that you have to blow through in order to get the printer ready to move, especially when I see this post about someone who foolishly tilted his PRO-1000 _on end_ with ink in it, and seemingly was ok afterwards.






Tilted my Canon Pro-1000 during transport. Now what?: Printers and Printing Forum: Digital Photography Review


Expert news, reviews and videos of the latest digital cameras, lenses, accessories, and phones. Get answers to your questions in our photography forums.




www.dpreview.com





When I bought the printer, I tried to execute the command to prepare to move the printer "to a different place on the same floor" which to my understanding uses the least ink and locks the print head in place, but the cartridge said it was full shortly after I did that. And without a spare cartridge and with a rented moving van waiting outside to get the printer into it, there was really no choice but to move it.

The printer didn't seem to protest too much once I got it set up in its new home, but it's not going to do anything until I get a new maintenance cartridge in there. I broke down and bought a new one because right now I just want to get it running and make sure it's ok. It should arrive in a couple days. I'll update with how it is. But again there wasn't any sort of error noticeable when I turned it on, aside from the cartridge being full.


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