EPSON 7900 toss or save

1

I have a lightly used 7900 always have used EPSON inks but unused for some time. Even before it disuse, the CYAN channel would intermittently show an X above that cartridge, pulling ink cartridge in/out seemed to work for a time. New Year’s resolution, need that space or fix. Turned printer on and X above the CYAN. I can buy ink on eBay and try a new cartridge.

Do you think this is a recoverable error given the age of this printer? I have a CANON PRO-1000 that I use happily.

Thank you.

Rita

2

It’s a CSIC sensor that is the problem. 6 dollars to fix, but some time to repair.

http://www.sdott-parts.com/epson-pro-7890-9700-7900-9890-7700-9900-contact-board.html

3

Thank you. I am in Houston Texas, the “some time to repair” is a technician coming to my home? Cost would probably be in 300$?? Or is this something I could do (I can follow directions but…this is not my expertise).

What are your thoughts?

Rita

4

What do you think of this method? Worth a try???

I have worked out a simple way to remove the malfunctioning or damaged chip sensor that does NOT require disassembly of the whole printer or an expensive service call. In fact, once you have the tools ready, it takes less than 30 minutes! So I am sharing it here in the hopes that it helps others.

The sensor is simply held in place by two rails, top and bottom, and just connects contacts from the printer chassis to the contacts on the cartridge chip. You can see a picture of it at http://www.authorstream.com/presentation/neterapublishing-1084953-part-gen-9501-9800-removal/ where you can also read the incredibly complex instructions for disassembly of the printer to get at this tiny $10 removable part!

So, to avoid that nightmare, and to do the removal simply, you need some dexterity, and three small tools:

  1. A small LED flashlight to light up the interior of the cartridge bay. It has to be small in order to leave you room to work. A flexible goose-neck LED inspection light is ideal.

  2. Very fine-pointed tweezers, sharp (narrow) enough to slip into the grooves (slots) holding the sensor edges. They have to be about 6 inches long to get far enough into the bay.

  3. Long locking forceps (available as “veterinary forceps” on Amazon) for grasping the sensor when the time comes to slid it out, and to slide the new one in. Again, they have to be long enough to reach the chip sensor.

Step One: Pushing the open tweezers into the bay in a posture parallel to the vertical sensor, insert its two points into the two slots (grooves) holding the sensor top and bottom. Push it gently forward, so as to bend the top rail up a bit and the bottom rail down. The rails are strong plastic and don’t break as they bend. You are just releasing the locking action of those rails that happens when a sensor slides in and clicks into position. It only take a bit of bending to release the chip.

Step Two: With the tweezers in place, doing their job of loosening the grip on the sensor, use the forceps to simply grab the near end of the sensor and pull it straight out. The tweezers will fall out in the process, as their job is done.

Step Three: Repair the sensor (if a pin is bent, for example) or get a replacement online. Make sure the replacement is the correct one for the model and vintage of your printer! Ebay is a good place to look for the older-model ones.

Step Four: Using your forceps to hold the new or repaired sensor, slide it in, making sure to insert the correct end in first and the correct side facing the circuit board. If in doubt, use your flashlight to view another open bay. If it isn’t sliding in easily, stop and reassess its orientation. The springy rails should click and lock the sensor in place.

That’s it. Insert a good ink cartridge to test for success.

1 Like
5

You are much more dexterous than I, and had the right tools!

Thanks for the write-up.

best,
Walker