P600 with IJM 60ml carts - Using Auto-reset Chips vs. Chipless Firmware

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
1

Newbie here. Started new topic because could not find much discussion of pro/con of driving chipless; just fair amount of frustration with the early-trip behavior forcing frequent refills of partly used 60ml carts.

Status summary: Have already made most of the novice/dumba** mistakes, starting with not coming here first!

  • Too much idle time for pigment ink printer - plugged nozzles abound.
  • Allowed firmware to update.

I have so far done the following:

  • Bought and installed Piezo-flush kit with all 9 carts. Surprisingly, the carts were accepted as valid even with the new firmware for status report and the 1st initial fill sequence.
  • Nozzle check then showed perfect pattern with PF except for the Yellow head, which was missing completely. All carts showed appropriate consumption, except Yellow which was untouched.
  • Gave it the 48 hour soak, and tried to repeat the init-fill. This time the firmware won - called for OEM carts.
  • Went to 2Manuals and got and used the WIC utility and firmware downgrade key. Now running AT26FB (11/2015); carts are recognized, can run utilities EXCEPT init-fill. That still triggers OEM cart error on all positions. Ink levels were still well above 50%. Therefore I am now stuck in place. I am taking up that issue with 2Manuals support, including whether their chipless firmware will have the same problem, and whether only the earliest firmware (AT23F3-2013) tolerates non-OEM carts.

This is where the Topic Heading comes in: if 2Manuals can unlock the init-fill function with either firmware solution, I have to choose in which configuration to run .
I am a hobby, not a production level user; I will use enough to the print head alive (if I can recover the yellow channel), but I will probably chafe at having to top off carts (in mid-print, as that is the only time they will trip) with only a fraction of the capacity used. Without a manual reset capability, it seems that the whole auto-reset scheme is not well suited to running carts with 3x the capacity that the ink usage algorithm is dialed in for.
If I can run chipless, I can see myself being comfortable with pulling all the carts periodically (and before a big print job) to agitate the ink and record the level manually, topping off the needful ones.

So, I am reaching out to the community for guidance/experience with running chipless vs. dealing with the auto-reset issues. Especially any significant risks other than running a cart dry.

A collateral question is this: I now have 9 carts mostly full of PF, and 1 syringe that came with the kit. One of the instruction sheets states that the syringe can be rinsed with distilled water and reused. If so, when I am done with the head recovery and cleaning, can I also recover the PF, flush the carts with distilled water, and fill them with the appropriate ConeColorPro inks using the same syringe (flushed clean between each, of course)?
The fact that the empty cart set comes with 8 syringes suggests, but doesn’t prove, that I shouldn’t.

Apologies in advance for the above novel-length post :roll_eyes:

2

Thanks for your post.

  1. There is a chip resetter out there that we are about to test. Others are saying it works great and with current ARC chips and current firmware.

  2. The initial fill command you are sending the the printer may actually be a “new printer” flag that is making the printer require the “starter carts” be inserted. In this case it would not even be able to run with normal store-bought epson carts. That being said, this printer is good as sucking out air by simply doing 5 normal cleanings in a row. Others have done this after full channel drops and recovered properly. Prime your yellow cart again before doing this (and make sure air vent is open).

best,
Walker