Epson Printer With Ink Tank
Update - Refill Ink Serial Number
A short while after we published the report on the availability of an Epson printer with a built in tank, we heard about a few issues faced by some users. Here is an update, read the information and pass it around - the information needs to be shared freely. The main issue related to the refill ink bottles that were required to be purchased after the, original set that came with the printer was exhausted.
- One thing that you should know is that, the epson printer with ink tank implies that, the printer was shipped by Epson with a tank. Many users are aware of shops that add an ink tank to an existing printer, but the situation is a bit different with the Epson ink tank printer. The printer comes with 4 or even 5 ink bottles depending on which printer model you choose. When you set up your ink tank printer, the entire bottle for each color needs to be emptied into the respective ink tanks. So you get just enough ink to fill the printer tanks once.
- If you had to use up all the ink in your ink tanks, it would be necessary to buy fresh ink bottles. The original Epson ink bottles as of now are being sold in sizes of 100ml capacity. Each bottle can cost around 5 U.S$ to 8 U.S$ depending on where you are located. If you are like us and make liberal use of color printing, the ink might get over faster than you would imagine. So on each ink change operation you would spend around 20 U.S$ to 40 U.S$ if all colors need to be refilled.
- You might be aware that, refill inks for inkjet printers are available from other sources too and not just Epson. These inks works out to be cheaper than original Epson inks. While Epson is most likely to limit your selection to 100ml bottle sizes, other manufacturers allow you to purchase 1 litre (1,000ml) and even 5 litres in some cases. This larger volume purchase obviously means that you pay much less than what you would pay for original Epson inks.
- Users came up with a problem when trying to use ink from manufacturers other than Epson to refill their ink tanks. We believe that, the printer in such cases the user waited until the entire volume of ink was used up. The system then prompted for the refilling of ink. At that point of time, it was observed that the user was asked to enter a serial number that was printed on the Epson ink bottle. This is obviously a gimmick by Epson to ensure that you keep going back to them to by their 'original' ink - which is most likely being mass produced from a cheap source in China !!! The request for the serial number seemed to rule out the possibility of using refill ink from any other manufacturer. Please continue reading and we will show you how to get over this irritant.
- When you use your Epson tank printer, keep an eye on the ink level in the tanks. This can be done quite easily as the Epson tank system is mounted outside the printer and is quite translucent. When you see the ink level drop to around 50-60%, fill the tank up. Do not wait for the tank to get completely empty as that, could trigger the Epson serial number check. We have tried this technic and it works just fine.
- Since we are talking about this printer, here is another important thing that you should know. Epson seems to be adding to it's range of ink tank ready printers. From the simple printing model, you can now graduate to an Epson ink tank printer that comes with a scanner too - more advanced models have also entered the market. What you should check carefully for the warranty period on the specific printer model that you intend to buy. From our knowledge, some of these ink tank printers come with a 3 month or 6 month warranty. So not all Epson printers come with a warranty that extends to 1 year from the date of purchase.
For those of you who have not read our earlier report on this topic, check it out here. And do share your knowledge with other users, the technical world is like one big party - feel thrilled in learning, sharing and teaching. We will keep you updated with any more information that we might gather.
easyrambler