Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Tech

Low On Ink? Here’s The Secret Of Ink Cartridges

tb

“Low on ink,” every printer users hate that notification popping out their screens especially when their printing a very important material at the moment. Unfortunately, this frequently happens on inkjet printers which are commonly used at home and micro-offices.

Inkjet printers are more popular in small working environments since it cost lower than laser printers or multifunction printers. Their printer consumable, inkjet cartridges, also has a low price compare to toner cartridges that the laser printers used. However, in regards to this, inkjet cartridges have a lower page yield or printing page capacity which means it is easy totally predict when the ink on your inkjet printer are likely to be empty compared to laser toner cartridges.

Unbeknownst to many though, inkjet cartridges hold a secret that manufacturers wouldn’t want to share to the printer users. So what is that? Well, have you ever ask how your printer is able to read the amount of ink within its cartridge? It’s because inkjet cartridges have a small circuit board that contains memory and a command that checks the level of ink within your cartridge every now and then to notify the user if ever the ink is near to becoming empty. On the other hand, these circuit boards don’t always give an accurate reading which might lead the printer users actually thinking that their ink cartridge is already empty when actually it’s not. So before you dump that ink cartridge to the nearest trash can, you might want to check if it’s really empty or not, by following this steps.

First, you should find the tiny circuit board in the inkjet cartridge. Once you found it, you will notice a small hole usually on top of it. There is a button inside it; this is the reset button for the circuit board. You can press it using the end of a paper clip. This will initialize the circuit board in re-reading the level of ink more accurately this time since it had been reset. After you have done this, place back the ink cartridge on your inkjet printer, refresh your computer and then check out if the level of ink within your cartridge have changed on the printer setting window.

This procedure will help you to get the best out of your inkjet cartridges and get what you really pay for. This will also avoid you from wasting your ink cartridges when it is not actually empty in the first place.

To make sure, in the first place, you should purchase your inkjet cartridges at reliable printer supplies retailer which offers warranty for their printer cartridges. You shouldn’t be worry if you’re buying replacement compatible inkjet cartridges too as long as you check that their page yield and performance are comparable to OEM-branded cartridges and they went under strict quality-tests to pass the standards of the printing industry in terms with printer consumables.

Written By

Erika Celario is a content writer under the marketing department of TonerBoss.com, the leading HP toners and printer cartridge specialists.

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. Phil

    November 1, 2012 at 12:31 am

    Well thats the first time ive heared that there is a reset button on your cartridge, you could save money by just using this tip, does this mean i can refill the cartridge myself and press the rest button and my printer will accept that the cartridge is full

  2. Erika Celario

    November 1, 2012 at 3:21 am

    Hi there Phil,

    Yes, you can also try that. But refilling sometimes may damage your print cartridge, just make sure you do it carefully and don’t damage any of the electric component especially in the print head where the nozzles are. On how to reset your ink cartridges, you may refer to this video from BrussPup which can help a lot, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJQ1FQ68lU8

  3. abhishek

    November 3, 2012 at 3:23 pm

    Thanks for this great tips, Erika. I have been using a printer and this post is very helpful.

  4. Penelope Smith

    September 28, 2018 at 4:53 am

    This is some really good information ink cartridges. It is good to know that there is a tiny circuit board in the cartridge that will help let you know what ink goes in it. That is a good thing for me to know because I have a lot of old cartridges.

  5. Penelope Smith

    January 19, 2019 at 3:38 am

    This is some really good information about ink cartridges. It is good to know that you can try to mess with the circuit board. However, I would want to mess with the printer. I would be too scared to break it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You May Also Like