I just filled my VLM for the first time. I used the vacuum method, all seemed to work fine. When I installed the cartridge it was not recognized, so I changed the battery. The old battery had a voltage of 1.3V while the new one measured 1.5V, however the cartridge is still not recognized. Could I have done something to cause this? What can I do or check?
I hope I can solve this at my end because to get replacement chips to Canada I have to take a trip across the border to pick up packages.
I really didn’t want to wait several days for new chips if that was the problem. So, I took my handy dandy volt meter and measured the voltage across the reset pins of several new unfilled cartridges. They all varied, but one was up to 1.5V, so I figured that the reset voltage across the pins is supposed to be the battery voltage. The voltage across the VLM cartridge after changing the battery was 0.3 V, yet the battery was 1.5V. I took the battery out and used a little electrical contact cleaner on the battery terminals inside the battery enclosure, rubbed the contacts gently with a narrow flexible plastic tip, reinstalled the battery, and voila, 1.5V across the reset terminals. I installed the cartridge, and it now is recognized.
These battery chips would be fantastic if they made the batteries easier to remove and install. In fact, I would suggest that they be supplied with the batteries NOT installed to help prevent corrosion.
I would recommend to anyone to measure the voltage across the reset terminals. If it is less than 1.5, remove the battery and measure the battery voltage. If the battery voltage is low also, replace the battery. However, I’d also highly recommend spraying a little electrical contact cleaner into the battery holder.
To the technical staff: I don’t know if this is feasible or not, but if someone has time to check the reset terminal voltages before packaging the battery style chip/cartridges, this would save a lot of customer headache. I realise that it’s not as quick as including a set of batteries though.
(I’m not trying to tell anyone what to do… it’s just a thought. For me, now that I know what to do, it’s easy and it doesn’t bother me.)
We are actually done selling this battery style chips on either the R3000 or the 4900 carts. We no longer have the chips OR the cartridges with these types of chips installed available. They have changed to a Non-Battery style chip.
I am glad to hear you figured this out on your own, it’s always good for us when our customers fix their own printers! Great idea with the electrical contact cleaner, I haven’t had to try anything other then replacing the battery.
I did a test on these batteries to find out what voltage they needed to read, it was as low as .14V until it was no longer recognized. A brand new battery should read 1.5-1.6V and when in the chip, you read from the upper contacts and it should read the same as the battery voltage out of the chip.
You must have stopped selling those carts in the last week or two because the cart I got was a battery chip one, manufactured in Feb 2014.
Now that I know the workaround for a chip that won’t work, I’m glad I have one of the battery chip types. The reason I mentioned using the contact cleaner is that I saw a number of posts where changing the battery did not resolve the unrecognized cartridge error. It’s good to know that I can go as low as 0.14V on these batteries. I’ll do a quick test each time I refill a cartridge. That means I can still use the old battery too, because it was only down to 1.3V.
InkjetMall Information
Why buy from us
My InkjetMall account
Contact Info