Epson maintenance box

Joined
Sep 22, 2020
Messages
4
It's a question concerning the box which collects excess ink in an Epson xp 6105 printer.
If I clean the box before I receive an error message to say it's empty what is the result, when I put it back?

Will it show empty, the quantity when it was removed, or some other value?
 
Joined
Nov 4, 2020
Messages
7
Hi Bob:

I think the maintenance box chips on the newer Epson printers act like the chips on the ink cartridges, in that they use a counter to determine when the tank is spent. I've been trying to find a way to reset the maintenance tank on my WF-7720 if it's at all possible.

I also have an Epson Stylus Pro 7600 that allows me to reset the tank in service mode, so I'm not sure if the newer model printers have such a feature in service mode.
 
Joined
Sep 22, 2020
Messages
4
s there anything I can do to continue using my printer temporarily?

You may temporarily remove this maintenance message by using the Maintenance Reset Utility. The Maintenance Reset Utility can only be used once and will allow printing for a short period of time. You may download the Maintenance Reset Utility when you receive the following message on your PC: A part inside your printer is at the end of its service life.
 
Joined
Nov 4, 2020
Messages
7
Thanks. I'll check it out

As I mentioned, my Stylus Pro 7600 has a feature (while in Maintenance Mode) that allows me to reset the Maintainance tank to 0. I presume Epson has a power up procedure for this printer that puts it in service mode and possible have a reset all counters option. I've looked for a service manual for this printer to determine if this can be done, but I haven't had any luck yet.

It's more environmentally friendly and cost-effective for me to just open the tank, clean it and replace the pads, instead of needing to replace the entire housing when the printer says so. Makes no sense.
 
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Messages
44
As noted above the maintenance boxes have chips. Resetting them is supposedly possible using a hardware chip resetter but it's not 100% and I'm trying to determine when they do/don't work plus any workarounds myself.

For the XP-6105 I'm not aware of any option to partially reset them compared to a Pro-7600 which is a very different beast so that may well not apply to the desktops. I've certainly never heard of it and waste ink is something I've been somewhat specialised in for some time now with Printer Potty, etc..

FWIW, your best initial bet is to purchase a couple of replacement maintenance boxes (compatible ones are available too) and hang on to the one that you have in case the chip resetter does actually work but needs the printer to "forget" ones it's previous had installed.

Hope that's of some use.
 
Joined
Nov 30, 2020
Messages
3
Hi Bob:

I think the maintenance box chips on the newer Epson printers act like the chips on the ink cartridges, in that they use a counter to determine when the tank is spent. I've been trying to find a way to reset the maintenance tank on my WF-7720 if it's at all possible.

I also have an Epson Stylus Pro 7600 that allows me to reset the tank in service mode, so I'm not sure if the newer model printers have such a feature in service mode.
It’s called built in Obsolescence your printer will work only for as long Epson wish it to so you go and buy a new one.
In old money it was called a CON.
there is a maintenance reset utility program but it is almost impossible to get here in the UK

 
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Messages
44
It’s called built in Obsolescence your printer will work only for as long Epson wish it to so you go and buy a new one.
In old money it was called a CON.
there is a maintenance reset utility program but it is almost impossible to get here in the UK

Most of what you're referring to here Mike is how waste ink has been handled until the last few years.

The maintenance reset utility you refer to is the IPR which Epson were forced to make available in North America due a class action lawsuit. It covered other zones until Epson then started to create zone specific printer models and as you say, you couldn't get them outside North America.

Since then unlocked AdjProg service utilities held sway and eventually the WICReset took over where the ISC utility had stopped being developed.

Either way, in the last couple of years Epson has finally accepted that they should allow end-users to deal with the waste ink without needing to revert to a service centre. Which is why the bulk of Epson printers now have maintenance boxes with a chip akin to a cartridge.

Pricing on the maintenance boxes is actually a whole lot better than expected and while some of them are still way too small for sense the system is a massive improvement on the approach used 15 years ago.

So, while your rant has historical merit, it's outdated and totally unrelated to maintenance boxes. If anything if you do some digging you'd see that much of what was so aggravating in the past is mostly addressed, albeit imperfectly.
 
Joined
Nov 30, 2020
Messages
3
Most of what you're referring to here Mike is how waste ink has been handled until the last few years.

The maintenance reset utility you refer to is the IPR which Epson were forced to make available in North America due a class action lawsuit. It covered other zones until Epson then started to create zone specific printer models and as you say, you couldn't get them outside North America.

Since then unlocked AdjProg service utilities held sway and eventually the WICReset took over where the ISC utility had stopped being developed.

Either way, in the last couple of years Epson has finally accepted that they should allow end-users to deal with the waste ink without needing to revert to a service centre. Which is why the bulk of Epson printers now have maintenance boxes with a chip akin to a cartridge.

Pricing on the maintenance boxes is actually a whole lot better than expected and while some of them are still way too small for sense the system is a massive improvement on the approach used 15 years ago.

So, while your rant has historical merit, it's outdated and totally unrelated to maintenance boxes. If anything if you do some digging you'd see that much of what was so aggravating in the past is mostly addressed, albeit imperfectly.
So you are saying because Epson have conceded that it is ok and fitting a chip into the maintenance boxes is ok and as to historical merit there are hundreds if not thousands of users out there for whom it’s not outdated, and have a printer like mine that was working perfectly well until this inbuilt problem occurred. I have it sorted now using WIC Reset.
 
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Messages
44
So you are saying because Epson have conceded that it is ok and fitting a chip into the maintenance boxes is ok and as to historical merit there are hundreds if not thousands of users out there for whom it’s not outdated, and have a printer like mine that was working perfectly well until this inbuilt problem occurred. I have it sorted now using WIC Reset.
I'm not saying it's okay at all. Far from it... I've spent the last decade plus working on ways to counteract the "Oh, it's broken, buy another one" mantra that Epson first line support continues to trot out even today and with the Printer Potty product line I've done a reasonable, albeit limited, job of achieving that while trying to keep a roof over my head and my family...

There are indeed millions of printers out there that would benefit from solutions like this and I wish Epson would quit playing silly beggars and just make them available but predictably they're trying to fit a solution around their economical model... but at least they are trying.

- HP's approach appears to be mostly centred around a waste pad that eventually backs-up and fouls the printhead so it fails

- Canon wastes less ink so the printers last longer but they still hit the same issue... and instead of making it easier to resolve they've gone out of their way to make it harder to reset the printers waste counter. Newer models now require a specific service tool that is next to impossible to get and if you get it you get just one chance to reset the waste counter. Foul it up and a service centre is required to resolve it.

- Brother printers waste almost no ink but have lower quality... they're also much easier to reset the waste ink counter (or they were).


I'd be happy to discuss this with you at length as I've hard waay too long to think about this over the last 15 years. But I strongly suspect we agree on the basics. I'm certainly not excusing the behaviour of OEM's when it comes to this specific issue.
 
Joined
Nov 30, 2020
Messages
3
I'm not saying it's okay at all. Far from it... I've spent the last decade plus working on ways to counteract the "Oh, it's broken, buy another one" mantra that Epson first line support continues to trot out even today and with the Printer Potty product line I've done a reasonable, albeit limited, job of achieving that while trying to keep a roof over my head and my family...

There are indeed millions of printers out there that would benefit from solutions like this and I wish Epson would quit playing silly beggars and just make them available but predictably they're trying to fit a solution around their economical model... but at least they are trying.

- HP's approach appears to be mostly centred around a waste pad that eventually backs-up and fouls the printhead so it fails

- Canon wastes less ink so the printers last longer but they still hit the same issue... and instead of making it easier to resolve they've gone out of their way to make it harder to reset the printers waste counter. Newer models now require a specific service tool that is next to impossible to get and if you get it you get just one chance to reset the waste counter. Foul it up and a service centre is required to resolve it.

- Brother printers waste almost no ink but have lower quality... they're also much easier to reset the waste ink counter (or they were).


I'd be happy to discuss this with you at length as I've hard waay too long to think about this over the last 15 years. But I strongly suspect we agree on the basics. I'm certainly not excusing the behaviour of OEM's when it comes to this specific issue.
You are a man that obviously knows more than I do on this and I thank you for your input. I over reacted because of my anger to the situation that I was in, you must have seen this many times.

I do have a question for you but I do understand if you prefer not to. I need to print office work and A4 photos so which make of printer would be best for me?

Many thanks

Mike
 
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Messages
44
You are a man that obviously knows more than I do on this and I thank you for your input. I over reacted because of my anger to the situation that I was in, you must have seen this many times.
I wouldn't be so churlish as to suggest your anger was misplaced as there's a reason I found myself getting stuck down this rabbit hole in the first place. As someone raised by a family of tinkerers and actively encouraged to take apart and fix things (but not the old CRT TV for some Pzzzzt reason) it did my nut in to see perfectly serviceable printers being sent to landfill because of a nappy. So, by all means be hacked off... I certainly don't blame you..

I do have a question for you but I do understand if you prefer not to. I need to print office work and A4 photos so which make of printer would be best for me?
Hmm... it's a bit of an open ended question but it really depends on just how much printing you do, how often, whether copying/scanning is needed, what sort of space you have available and so on...

Ecotank printers are pretty reasonable but can be slow unless you get one of the more expensive ones. I've started playing with Canon megatank printers recently and they do ok although most users tend to slate their photo quality. HP printers are never my favourites but I use a Pro-X for our manuals printing so I'm something of a hypocrit there... Probably the key thing to keep in mind is that I look at printers from a refilling, freedom of choice POV so I may not be the best opinion to seek. Probably the best suggestion I can give is to look for previous generation printers (not the latest and greatest). Check for issues, fixes, driver stability, etc... and think about one of those models. Newest are almost always locked to the OEM only consumables (read: Expensive printer with champagne habits) and may not be supported with drivers.

So, dig around, see what's about and seek opinions from actual users, not review sites that have advertising from the manufacturers plastered everywhere. Hope that's of some help... Good luck. :)
 
Joined
Jan 6, 2021
Messages
3
With Regards to the 'Reset tools'

I have seen many of them on Aliexpress, ebay and even amazon . I have even seen the actual chips for sale . The specific printer I have is not on the list of compatible printers for these tools (WF100) . Though it seems the actual chips are shared amongst other printers . I have seen very similar chips to mine with traces that look the same ( certain same pins are joined .
I have purchased some aftermarket chips (for other workforce models ) , just to see if the printer recognises them . If so , then at least there is more chance that this and others will be compatible with the reset tool
 

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