What tells you an HP cartridge is REALLY empty?

[kiddpete]

I have an HP 2550L (color laser). It has lights on top that, I guess, are supposed to indicate that a new toner cartridge is needed. These started coming on several weeks ago. Now 3 of 4 are on. Still there is no decline in the quality of printed output. I guess it still has enough toner, and HP really wants to sell more cartridges. How do you tell that the things are REALLY empty or low?

 

[NotSoCunning]

You can tell a cartridge is really low or empty by a sharp decline in quality of that colour.

Are you sure that the lights are telling you that the cartridge is low and not something else? Normally it's one or two flashing lights that indicate low toner/ink levels.

 

[Auger282]

the 2550 has 4 colors and 1 imaging drum... they are solid when they are low.. they will blink when they need to be replaced.. and they are dead dead when the colors dont show anymore..

Keep in mind those lights are based on expected duty cycles and the current count of prints that the printer has performed.

Keep in mind.. just because you printed 900 pages doesnt mean all 900 were full of black.. its an average..

The one thing that will need to be replaced when the light starts blinking is the imaging drum (since this is used every print 100% of the time)


the top 4 lights are for each color.. then there is a orange button to rotate the color drums.. the light below that is the imaging drum light.. and then there are the problem and thinking lights (next to the green "go" button)

p.s. I have lots of 2550's so if you have any more questions please post...

 

[davidb4775]

Auger, How do you like the 2550? I am thing of buying one while they $100 rebate is still ineffect for the rest of the year. I read in the manual that non-oem toner can be used but the status page count feature won't work for these cartridges. That's ok with me as I can look and see when a color is running out. My two questions are if there is a work around to the situation where the printer stops printing because "it thinks" the oem cartridge is empty when in fact it isn't? Second question is a general question of how happy you have been with this model. I've also been looking at the single pass HP 3550 model.

 

[Auger282]

Well we have 3 of them.. its loud and slow.. but its a nice color laser...

the only bad part is that it doesnt have an LCD to tell you what the heck is going on.. if I was going to pick on I wouldnt choose one without an LCD..

then again I didnt pick it.. my IT manager did.. ;]

 

[davidb4775]

I would certainly prefer having a LCD display, too. Given that this is a personal purchase, is it and the one-pass feature worth spending 200 dollars more?

 

[TCouch]

Actually, if you look at each of the cartridges, there is a small window on them. Typically the HP's will attepmt to read through that windows. If it can't see through, the cartridge is full. The more "light" that passes through, the less toner it has, until a set light level is reached to activate the "low" and finally the "out" light patterns.

Timothy N. Couch.
A1 Printech
Anchorage, AK

 

[nicksims]

When the prints start to look awful and people start to bang on the machine! Followed by plenty of swearing. That is usually me forgetting to have extra cartridges on hand.

Nick