Home Forums Peripherals & Multimedia Peripherals Inkjet cartridge chips

How does the chip on an inkjet cartridge work? Does it function only once, or does it reset when used a second time? For example, after refilling the cartridge.

I ask as I use non-Canon "chipped" cartridges purchased on-line. When they're empty I recycle the plastic containers. However, there is a local business that refills empty cartridges and I'm thinking I should support the local business.

If they refill one of my chipped cartridges, what's its status when it goes back into the printer?

The chips are there specifically to try to prevent you from refilling them or buying a generic brand of cartridge.

Their basic design is to track ink usage, since a "ink level detector" isn't really a practical thing in such a small cartridge. They track ink used (in each color) as well as number of hours used. They communicate with the computer to send this information, but they also store it on the cartridge itself. The carts have their own unique serial number so the computer can tell them apart when you change them.

The darker side is they often have an encrypted or signed communications, and the printer drivers on the computer or the hardware in the printer will refuse to run unless the cart has "the right password" so to speak. This can force you to have to buy from the manufacturer ("HP genuine cartridge has been installed") and will also prevent you from refilling them. (because adding more ink doesn't reset the ink level the cart thinks it has, it still tells the computer "I'm empty" even after you've refilled it)

It's no surprise they do this - it's a well-established fact that printer ink costs more than gold, by the ounce, when sold under a name brand. The manufacturers sell the printers at cost or even at a small loss, and make up their margin by placing huge mark-up on the ink, which they try to force you to buy from them. Some of you may recognize this as "The Razor Blade Game". I'm having a little difficulty finding a good article on it ATM, but it refers to the market that invented the practice. They would sell you a razor cheaply or below cost, and then heavily mark up the cost of the replacement blades to make their money. Then generics started making cheap replacement blades and that got their knickers in a twist.

There are numerous examples of printer manufacturers taking legal action against generic ink cart makers and makers of ink refilling kits, who are trying to trick the printer into taking their cart or resetting the ink levels after a refill. They typically invoke the broad terms of the DMCA laws, basically accusing the generics of "illegal hacking", in an attempt to close down the generic's business. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. I'm not sure what the current legal trend is in this arena.

I have read that generic cartridges and generic inks can cause problems, ranging from inaccurate colors to clogging the jets. That's the reason that I'm willing to pay the price for Epson inks. Even if clogging were not a concern, I'm very fussy about the colors in my photos and I have been totally pleased with Epson ink.

My 2¢.

I see a strong chance of FUD being spread by the brand names in ink, for exactly that reason.

I know several people that refill and many that use generics, and no one has had any serious problems, and all of them overall have saved big money. If you do a lot of printing, you should seriously consider it.

So I need I can't refill the chipped cartridges….oh well, I can't support the local ink filler as I used to do with non-chip cartridges.

After years of using generic ink cartridges, with more than one printer maker, I can report that I have never had any of the issues that the printer manufacturers caution against.


I have never had reason to think the generics were any less true than brand-name inks, however the bulk of my printing has had less stringent requirements than photographic.

That's been pretty much my experience with a Stratitec ink refill kit I used some years ago with an HP inkjet printer. This worked fine, producing prints for a fraction of the HP price, but I noticed that the refill ink bled slightly more than the HP variety. That was no problem for most prints, only for the few that needed to look really good. For those I used an original, unrefilled HP cartridge.

Jon's original post above was in reference to an Epson printer. The other posts are about HP and Canon printers. In my experience Epson-branded inks are different. They are water resistant, smear proof right off the bat on the printed page. I have not found a generic Epson ink that can do that.

My first Epson printer used dye-based inks, which were not water resistant. My current Epson uses pigment-based inks which are not only water resistant and smear proof, but they don't fade (at least I haven't seen any fading over several years). The former inks faded after about a year. The color accuracy with Epson paper is outstanding.

Your comment is appreciated, and supports the notion that generic inks may not be fully comparable to branded products, even though that may only be an issue with a fraction of print jobs. Certainly in cases where cost is an issue, generics have a place, provided they offer at least minimum standards, however defined by the end user.