Compatible Ink For 7900

[phill]

Hi
New to the forum, I have just received my new 7900, had loads of trouble with blocked nozzels, plus the light black went down to 14%, all other inks went to halffull.
What I want to know does anyone use the Eternachrome compatiable inks, there is a massive saving ie:- £99+vat for 700ml, with already having trouble with blocked nozels with the OEM inks, don't no what to do.

[Mark D Segal]

Is the printer new to you or brand new period - as in you bought it completely unused, took delivery from your retailer and charged it up? I ask because it is highly unusual that a brand new printer would exhibit this behaviour, and if it is a new printer under warranty I would recommend your first line of defense should be Epson Pro Graphics Support. As for putting third-party inks into a brand new printer under warranty, I would recommend caution on legal grounds. Check your warranty to see whether putting these materials into the printer would void the warranty altogether, or void it in respect of Epson support for the problem you experienced. Regardless of the legalities, filling the printer with third-party inks gives them an easy-out in case you do so and then wish to revert to them for support. I would drill down to the root causes of the problem with Epson's help and exhaust all of that before resorting to exotic solutions, if indicated.

[phill]

Yes it is new from Epson, it does seem to have settled down now, but to be honest I have not had time to have a good play, I have had a 7600 for around 9 years or more(had one when they first arrived in the country)so was very disappointed when it did not print with out lines, it seems there is a problem with the auto cleaning reading a post on this forum, I found the manual to be useless, and customer support even worse, they suggested to up date the firmware which I have done, but the update does not update the nozzle cleaning.

[Mark D Segal]

There's lots of discussion about the best strategy for dealing with cleaning nozzles on these printers. I have a 4900 and I have all the automatic cleaning stuff turned off. The manual does tell you how to do this. But then you do a manual nozzle check before each printing session and if you see one or two colours with broken lines, you so "pair" cleaning - if the 7900 offers that option - I don't know. Three cardinal rules to keep yourself out of trouble going forward (assuming the printer itself is OK) :(1) Don't use 3rd party inks as long as there is a hint of a need for future tech support from Epson, and if you find the first support level useless, which can happen, ask to be escalated. (2) Make prints (even if only a couple) at least every three days to keep the whole system moist. (3) If you ever need to do more than one cleaning in sequence to clear-up a clog, always make a print between each cleaning, and don't use Power Clean except as a last resort (when multiple rounds of clean-print-clean don't work).

[hugowolf]

There's lots of discussion about the best strategy for dealing with cleaning nozzles on these printers. I have a 4900 and I have all the automatic cleaning stuff turned off. The manual does tell you how to do this. But then you do a manual nozzle check before each printing session and if you see one or two colours with broken lines, you so "pair" cleaning - if the 7900 offers that option - I don't know. Three cardinal rules to keep yourself out of trouble going forward (assuming the printer itself is OK) :(1) Don't use 3rd party inks as long as there is a hint of a need for future tech support from Epson, and if you find the first support level useless, which can happen, ask to be escalated. (2) Make prints (even if only a couple) at least every three days to keep the whole system moist. (3) If you ever need to do more than one cleaning in sequence to clear-up a clog, always make a print between each cleaning, and don't use Power Clean except as a last resort (when multiple rounds of clean-print-clean don't work).

I would add a fourth: keep the humidity levels between 40-60%.

Brian A

[Mark D Segal]

Yes indeed - and that is in the Epson manual too.

[Wayne Fox]

plus the light black went down to 14%, all other inks went to halffull.

Unfortunately that's normal, as the printer has to charge the LK ink line twice, once when it charges the MK line, then it swaps to PK and charges that, basically recharging the LK line again.

 I always recommend a buyer get a LK cartridge pretty quickly to have on hand because not only does it start out low, it is is the most used ink, often more than all the other inks combined in a print. If opting for the 350ml cartridges, use the 700ml for LK.  LLK is also used quite a bit, some also run the 700ml in that as well.