Solved Epson printer ink cartridges lasting five minutes!

[Bernard Il Mondo]

Well, maybe slightly longer ... a friend bought me a new inkjet printer last November, Epson Expression XP - 432. I researched online and the printer is regarded as basic but fine for my present needs, mainly B&W text prints, occasionally a colour image. But the ink costs are horrendous - almost £30 for a set of four XL Epson inks from PC World (printing won't work if any one of the cartridges is empty) and I am replacing all four cartridges every few weeks. Three weeks ago I bought a new set of four colours - all four have since had to be inserted into the printer as "replace cartridge" messages came up, even though I have only printed between 20 and 30 B&W text documents, no colour-prints at all. Clearly this level of cost is unmanageable - at my local business printer's, 20 prints would cost £1 or £2! I would be really grateful for any advice on what I might be doing wrong

 

[gus]

Hi Bernard, I have an Epson too and the ink cartridges are tiny, but Epson is not the only manufacturer to inflict users with over the top ink costs. HP users with 02 ink cartridge printers will know how quick they run out as well. You can of course use aftermarket cartridges, which I've always regarded as a possible problem just waiting to happen, but have had no issues using non genuine Epson ones.

You can always print at a lower resolution, but this is not always a viable. Another possibility if you plan keeping the printer for a while is to use a CISS system, like this one
http://www.rihac.com.au/index.php/inklink-ciss-units-c-26

 

[Bernard Il Mondo]

Thanks for that, but I'm not sure what an "aftermarket" cartridge is - I did think of trying non-Epson cartridges but some people seem to have had problems getting their printer to accept cartridges from a different manufacturer. Not sure either what a CISS system is! Sorry, this is why I'm on here trying to get help from the geeks ...

 

[gus]

An aftermarket cartridge is the same as you call a non - Epson cartdridge. Yes some printer manufacturers place electronic chips on their cartridges to try and prevent users from using non genuine ones. The good news is most if not all non genuine cartridges will come with similar chips to allow them to work. Ciss ink systems have external refillable tanks allowing bulk ink to be used. Have a search of CISS ink systems..

 

[Rustys]

If you have not checked the print quality?
Are you replacing all of them when it say cartridge empty?

 

[Bernard Il Mondo]

Thanks for the comments. The start-up guide for the printer is pretty useless and I haven't yet worked out how to check the print resolution but will have a look art that aspect.

At first, I was getting messages on the display saying that one ink cartridge was running low - doesn't seem to happen at present, a message suddenly comes up telling me to replace one of the cartridges (I only replace that specified colour). It is possible that there was a connection problem, a cartridge not seating properly - time will tell if that was causing the sudden "replace cartridge" messages to pop up.

 

[Bernard Il Mondo]

I am also being advised to go for non-Epson cartridges - I gather they are much cheaper and in most cases they work ok in an Epson printer. So I am looking around for alternatives

 

[gus]

Thanks for the comments. The start-up guide for the printer is pretty useless and I haven't yet worked out how to check the print resolution but will have a look art that aspect.

At first, I was getting messages on the display saying that one ink cartridge was running low - doesn't seem to happen at present, a message suddenly comes up telling me to replace one of the cartridges (I only replace that specified colour). It is possible that there was a connection problem, a cartridge not seating properly - time will tell if that was causing the sudden "replace cartridge" messages to pop up.

The print resolution is controlled by Windows usually from the printer properties dialogue box. Yours may be slightly different but will have similar options.

When a cartridge runs low the printer will warn you which cartridge and unfortunately wont print until you replace THE ONE ONLY the warning was for. The later model Epsons have a habit of wasting a lot of ink when they regularly auto clean the print heads.

Try using non genuine cartridges, try and check the supplier for a reasonable reputation if you can.

 

[Bernard Il Mondo]

Thanks for all the helpful info. I have found the print resolution options - in the Windows dialogue box of course, you can also access it via the menu on the Epson printer.

I now have several third-party cartridges recommended to me - I will check those out and see if I can reduce the printing costs a bit. Also watching like a hawk how much printing I'm doing - I should of course get a fair number of copies before inks start giving up on me.

 

[gus]

Don't know what the rating is for the amount of pages per cartridge, but it wont be many that's for sure. If you are doing full page high res colour you'll run out very quick.

Be watchful if you set the options in the printer control panel because depending on the Windows app you're using it may over ride them. Best to set the options in the Windows app print setup you're printing from.

 

[Bernard Il Mondo]

When I first got the printer last November, I seemed to get a great number of B&W prints before inks started running out. That's why I'm keeping a precise check for now, but it might possibly have been a problem with cartridges not seating properly - I found it needed a bit of pressure to get the cartridge right down into place (I don't like forcing things!). Time will tell. And yes, thanks, I use the Windows Print commands, bit simpler to go via that route anyway.

 

[gus]

When I first got the printer last November, I seemed to get a great number of B&W prints before inks started running out.

That's because the black cartridge has a higher ink capacity than the colours.

 

[Bernard Il Mondo]

Well .. following all the helpful advice above, I checked out suggested alternative suppliers of ink cartridges.

The first thing I noticed was that the Black cartridge is generally claimed to last for 470 A4 pages (the coloured inks for somewhat fewer pages). No doubt these claims are exaggerated, even so I got only a fraction of that number of prints from my Epson cartridges – probably not as many as 100 prints. That suggests to me that there might have been a connection or other problem with my printer,

Secondly, the third-party suppliers do not actually seem to be a lot cheaper! At PC World I paid £27 last time round for a pack of 4 XL ink cartridges – Ink Factory and Stinkyinks are charging £22 and £25 respectively. Not a massive reduction, although obviously it all mounts up over time. However, the free delivery helps a bit too - saves time!

I am seeing how it goes and how many copies I can chalk up before the printer gives up on me again.

 

[gus]

Hi Bernard,
Are you happy to mark this solved for now? When we do you can always PM me or another admin and have it reopened

 

[Bernard Il Mondo]

Thanks to this excellent site, I'm happy to regard this query as largely resolved. Thanks a lot.