An opinion:
Concerning North America region SureColor P6000, P7000, P8000, P9000 chips.
SureColor printers sold in North America behave differently than the same models sold into Europe and Asia. Europe and Asia are more strict about consumer protection laws and efforts by printer manufacturers to prevent consumer choice in ink supplies. It is much easier for European and Chinese consumers to repair their own printers and ink cartridges or choose alternative ink supplies than it is for North Americans.
When an ink cartridge is inserted into a North American region P6000, P7000, P8000, P9000 printer, the serial number of the chip is recorded and saved into a database located on the main board of the printer. Further, the database continues to record the percentage of ink remaining for each of the chip serial numbers (even though the percentage of ink remaining is recorded directly onto the chip.)
This prevents both chip resetting as well as using a second version of the same chip serial number. This makes it quite difficult to repair your own printer by using refillable cartridges or using remanufactured cartridges. For example, a popular method for reusing cartridges (rather than throwing them away) is to refill the cartridge with ink and resetting the chip. This is not an option in North American region SureColor printers. They have been designed to prevent reUsable ink supplies. In general:
Reusable cartridges with unique serial number chips are now available for repairing SureColor printer models or repairing OEM ink cartridges or for using alternative consumer ink choices.
The InkjetMall cartridges have been designed to allow you to repair your own printer or repair faulty OEM ink cartridges, or for harvesting the ink from OEM cartridges that read empty when they in fact are not. With an InkjetMall cartridge, you could harvest ink from OEM cartridges designed for other printer models such as the 3880, 4900, 7890, 7900, 9890, and 9900 printers and use this harvested ink in your SureColor printer. The color gamut is nearly the same and the ink is compatible with the print heads in SureColor printers.
Repairing an Epson ink Cartridge (OEM): If an Epson ink cartridge chip fails or reads empty prior to the cartridge actually being empty, the ink can be retrieved from the OEM cartridge in a number of ways. It can be drawn out with a blunt tip needle from the ink exit port or the cartridge can be opened and the ink bag removed and cut open. This ink can then be poured into a refillable cartridge and a new chip attached. A new chip that is attached will read 700ml ink remaining, even if the refillable cartridge contains less than 700ml. When a less than full cartridge with a new chip attached is inserted into a printer, the printer's display panel will indicate the cartridge in that position is full no matter what the contents of the cartridge is. No Epson chip is actually attached to the ink supply. Always the assumption of a new chip is that the cartridge has been filled to its capacity. If this applies to you, you must monitor the actual ink remaining by removing the cartridge from time to time and looking through its transparent case. You can refill the cartridge with additional OEM ink until the chip is exhausted, at which time it must be replaced with a chip of a previously unused serial number. In this way, the consumer can harvest unused OEM inks from faulty OEM cartridges.
General Use: A consumer of one of these printer models can use a refillable or reUsable ink cartridge provided that they use chips with previously unused serial numbers. Because the chips read full at 700ml, the replacement of chips will only be necessary after 700ml of ink has been printed or used in auto-cleaning operations. The printer keeps track of each drop of ink expressed during printing and cleaning and records the percentage remaining to the chip. Once the percentage of ink remaining is exhausted, that serial number can not be reused again in that particular printer. The same serial number can be used in a different printer (even of the same printer model). The use of serial numbers is particular to an individual printer model. There is no way to flush the database of a individual printer model.
PiezoFlush: If a consumer wants to flush out their printer in order to repair it or for preventative maintenance purposes they can purchase a set of reUsable cartridges and fill them with PiezoFlush and operate the Initial Fill procedure. This will reduce the amount of ink remaining on the chip from 700ml, and also record that percentage of ink remaining on those chip serial numbers in the printer's main board database as well as on the chips. Therefore, if the consumer wants to use an alternative ink supply in that same printer they must take the chips from the PiezoFlush filled cartridges and place them on the new cartridges being used for an alternative ink. Of course, the chips will no longer read as full. But with refillable cartridges this will not result in the wastage of ink. The consumer must not use a fresh set of chips with the same serial number after using those serial numbers on cleaning carts. The reason is that the higher percentage of ink remaining on a chip of the same serial number that was previously recorded as having a smaller percentage of ink remaining will cause the printer to not operate - and that serial number will no longer be available for use in that printer model even if it has not been exhausted.
Alternative Ink Usage: If you would prefer to use an alternative ink supply from the one that Epson provides, you can fill a ReUsable ink cartridge with ink of your choice and attach a chip with a serial number that has not been previously recorded, or with the a chip that has already been used in that printer. You can not use two different versions of the same chip serial number with differing percentages of ink remaining or the printer will not operate and that serial number will no longer be available for use. Although new chips read full with 700ml ink remaining, it is possible to fill a cartridge with only 350ml of ink twice before having to purchase the next unused serial number. Alternative ink supplies allow you to convert your printer for use for textile printing with water proof ConeColor pigment inks, for printing silk screen separation film with UV45 inks, for printing fine black and white photographs or making negatives for alternative photographic process printing with Piezography inks, or for printing with high chroma-high gloss dye inks for producing economical short term graphics with InkThrift Pro inks. Let your Creativity abound!
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