Digital BW, The Print

Hi,
Reading you post it seems to me that it's cumbersome to use self resetting chips. Is one type of a self resetting chip better than other? Which ink are you using and how it compares to OEM ink? Is it better to use OEM carts and refill them and how would you do that? Do I need to clean those carts? Please be patient with me, because I don't know much about third party inks and carts. Just don't want to pay so much for Epson inks anymore. If possible point me to the sources of carts and ink.
Thank you!












    
            Here are a couple of points that may help those of us using self-

resetting chips.



1) There are two types of self-resetting chips - those that reset 

when you cycle the power (usually the oulder type) and those that 

reset themselves when they go below a certain level.  If you have the 

later type, disable the Espon status monitor or else you printer may 

stop printing when the INDICATED levels get too low.  Disabling the 

Epson monitor will allow you to print throught the low level 

indication until the chip resets itself.



2) You cannot mix OEM, self-resetting, or manual reset chips.  All 

chips installed should be the same type.  The printer will usually 

report a bad cartridge or "cannot recognize cartridge" message if 

chips are mixed.



3) Because self-resettng chips reset themselves, you never need to 

remove the cartridge from the printer and risk getting air in the 

jets.  Just refill the carts in the printer.  This is the biggest 

reason to use this type of chip.  I had more problems with air in the 

R1800's jets than the 1280, C84, and C86 I also have owned.  By not 

having to remove the carts, the problems went away.  However, you 

need to keep track of how many pages yu've printed and refill before 

the carts go dry.  That is the down side.  Once you've done it a 

couple of times, you get used to it and it's no big deal.  In fact, 

it's faster than refilling and reinstalling carts unless you keep 

extras on hand.  But if you remove and reinstall, you risk getting 

air in the jets...



4)  The Espon Status program is disabled as follows from the driver 

preferences window: from the Maintanence tab, click "Speed and 

Progress", then check the "Disable Epson Monitor 3" box.



My source of information is Ross Hardy at InkJetCarts. us who is very 

helpful.  They are also a good source of refillable carts and ink.  

They sell Image Specialists inks.  Ross claims (and my experience 

verifies) they are interchangable with Epson and MIS inks.  I use the 

Image Specialist R1800 matte black interchangeably with Eboni black 

with no mixing problems.  As far as the carts go, I have not found 

any source that ships 100% good refillable carts for the R1800.  

Considering they all come from the same place, I am not surprized.  

After all, consider baby food, pet food, children's toys, etc.  The 

problem is not who sells them.  I must say, MIS's carts for the R1800 

seem to be the most robust of any I've seen.