Epson EcoTank update

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HARDWARE By Will Fastie My article about Epson EcoTank printers was well received but contained some errors. This week, I provide some updates and att
[See the full post at: Epson EcoTank update]

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cesmart4122, fisher75, Norio, windbg, DLivesInTexas, F A Kramer, J9438, lmacri, Alex5723

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My Canon Ink Tank G4470 has a Canon PRINT for iOS and iPadOS.
For none wi-fi connected printer Ink status should be check by opening the Ink lid.
There is an option for low ink notifications.

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When my HP printer died from a catastrophic print head failure, I was so ticked I went out and bought an Epson (before I knew about maintenance boxes). I also bought a second one a few months later for a relative.

Then I found out about maintenance boxes. The first printer had a replaceable box but I could only find one directly from Epson (Ugh). I ordered one to be prepared. Not cheap (Ugh). Then I found out on the second printer the box was not replaceable so I guess that means when it fills up I have to buy a new printer (Double Ugh).

So I will go back to HP as maintenance boxes (which HP did not have) seem to be an irritating and unnecessary design.

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I have the ET-3850 model and it is all that I could want in a printer/scanner for home use. The cost advantage of bottles over cartriages is one major reason. I do have a minor problem in that the printer will not work wirelessly. Epson requires that the printer use the 2.4 GHz band only. I have an AT&T fiber optic telephone/internet line with an AT&T supplied router which uses the same SSID for both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. The computer takes full aadvantage of the 5 GHz band. Fast internet up and down!

Thus, the Epson printer can not recognize and use the wireless “connection”. Epson’s user’s manual says to rename the 2.4 GHz SSID to resolve the conflict with the 5 GHz band. But AT&T will not allow me to change the SSID, although I can get detailed access to the router. So I have to connect the printer using an USB cable. Since I have only one computer that needs to connect to the printer, this is not a serious problem, and the printer does respond immediately to a print request.

Any ideas as to how I could get the printer to handle my wireless setup? And, Epson, if you are reading this, update your printer technology to accomodate what in my neighborhood at least is the common situation of dual bands.

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Does the printer have an RJ45 connection that you could hardwire with Ethernet?

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You may have to login to the router’s web interface with the admin password to change the 2.4 SSID. I’ve never seen a modern router that doesn’t allow you to do this basic task.

 

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F A Kramer

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Yes, I can attempt to change the SSID of the 2.4 GHz channel.

But AT&T then provides a stern warning that changing the “name” so as not to match the 5 GHz SSID will seriously degrade the router performance, slow down the network speed, and perhaps cause other problems. This message from AT&T is even in bold Capital letters. As is, I get 866 mbps both up and down. I don’t want to lose that just to get a printer to behave as any quality printer should, wirelessly, in 2025. It is not last century anymore, Epson.

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One factor that many are not aware of – humidity of your location. Having lived in the metro Phoenix area for decades, I found that all inkjets dry out very quickly if not printing every day or two at the minimum. Gave up on them over 25 years ago. Lasers only!
Moved to So. Carolina a few years ago. Found that the inkjets can go weeks without printing and not dry out. Didn’t expect such a difference!

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J9438, SueW

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J9438 wrote:

I could only find one directly from Epson (Ugh). I ordered one to be prepared. Not cheap (Ugh).

As I mentioned in my earlier article about this, the maintenance box for the ET-5150 and many other models costs $10. That’s pretty cheap, especially when amortized. Mine probably would have lasted for at least four more years.

J9438 wrote:

Then I found out on the second printer the box was not replaceable so I guess that means when it fills up I have to buy a new printer (Double Ugh).

Not user replaceable. Authorized service center only.

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J9438

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PKCano wrote:

Does the printer have an RJ45 connection

The ET-3850 does have a 10/100 wired connection. That’s usually the case for the more expensive models; the least expensive usually do not.

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F A Kramer wrote:

AT&T supplied router which uses the same SSID for both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands.

My Verizon FIOS gateway router does the same thing – provides access to both bands with the same SSID. But in my case, the router automatically adjusts the frequency of a given connection (“frequency-agile”). You might want to check with AT&T about that; it should work without changing the SSID.

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Thanks for the follow-up article and for citing my “deal-breaker” re. two-sided scanning.

I’m curious if others will echo your comment, “it’s an upscale feature that most people don’t need.”

I’m 99% paperless, which in practical terms means that I have to scan all the paper I receive before I recycle it. Most vendors, insurers, and governments these days, if they still mail paper, are sending two-sided paper to save trees and postage. When was the last time you received a single-sided Explanation of Benefits or cable TV bill? IMHO, two-sided scanning is a requirement because two-sided documents are ubiquitous. It’s an essential feature that most people need.

BTW in part because of this article, I bought an Epson EP-2850 with only a flatbed scanner. Then I bought a standalone duplex desktop scanner.

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mcbsys wrote:

I’m curious if others will echo your comment

Me too.

mcbsys wrote:

When was the last time you received a single-sided Explanation of Benefits or cable TV bill?

Probably never. I’m not 99% paperless; I keep important documents in hard copy. Explanations of Benefits? Read and shredded. 80% of the paper I used to keep just isn’t necessary any longer. I rarely scan anything.
I’m not suggesting there is anything wrong with your approach.

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mcbsys

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I never update my Epsom printer or any others. If you use generic ink the update will make all your generic off brand inks unusable. It changes the chips. I learned the hard way and had to throw out over $100 in ink cartledges they would not work after the updates on my printers.

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Alex5723

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Will Fastie wrote:

the maintenance box for the ET-5150 and many other models costs $10

Perhaps the prices have come down but I vaguely remember mine costing either 29 or 39 dollars. Pretty ridiculous for something not needed with other printers and a potential mess and a lot of trouble to change.

Will Fastie wrote:

Not user replaceable. Authorized service center only.

I can imagine what an authorized service center would charge. Add to that the time and trouble taking it there, waiting for days, picking it back up.

Sorry, Epson, this “box” thing is just too much trouble for me to deal with. I will try another brand next time.

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J9438 wrote:

I vaguely remember mine costing either 29 or 39 dollars.

For my old Artisan 800 it was $25.

J9438 wrote:

I can imagine what an authorized service center would charge.

Again, for my Artisan 800 and five years ago, $125. But my guy did not buy new boxes – he took the soaked padding out and replaced it with clean, then cleared the error code. Nice gig, albeit messy.

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J9438

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Will Fastie wrote:

Again, for my Artisan 800 and five years ago, $125

Yep, that is what I was thinking. That would go a long way towards purchasing a new printer!

On another note, thank you for the explanation of the status indicator. My box indicator looked like your figure 1 some time ago so I thought my box was 3/4 full. I looked today and the gray area is toward the bottom (the reverse of what I would have expected).

So now I know the gray is telling me I only have about 1/4 capacity left and the gray area will get smaller. It still seems more logical that the gray would show the amount of waste ink in the box since the ink is black.

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Our Epson EcoTank ET-2720 has a maintenance box yet not a word in printer’s user manual.

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J9438

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Alex5723 wrote:

yet not a word in printer’s user manual.

And that probably means some unknowing customer some day will be printing a critical document and half way through, the printer will stop and show a message ‘”service required” and off to the repair shop for a $125 bill.

Not a very good customer friendly product, Epson.

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Alex5723

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J9438 wrote:

Not a very good customer friendly product, Epson

The product is good. Epson’s documentation is not.

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J9438

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Alex5723 wrote:

The product is good.

I agree. The product itself is good. In the last year or so I have printed a ream of paper with no problems. That being said, the downside is the maintenance box and cost of ink.

I was wondering why ink is wasted since you would think all ink would go onto the paper. After a lot of Google research I found interesting articles.

Apparently all inkjet printers use ink to clean the “sprayer”, so that ink has to go somewhere. The amount of waste, however, depends on the printer design. Several articles indicated Brother printers have a design that waste the least and the Epson design is on the high side. One article said that HP printers don’t use a maintenance box so when the waste fills a pad, it overflows onto the print head and crashes the head. (That explains why my HP printer crashed.)

So I guess waste ink is just a fact of life.

There were a lot of articles complaining about the cost of ink. I just experienced that as I just bought my Epson black XL with 3 color standard cartridges for – yes – $124.99. Whew!!!

On the  positive side, however, it still just amazes me that you can sit down at a PC and print stuff, copy stuff, scan stuff, all with a keystroke. A small little box with amazing results.

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Alex5723

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J9438 wrote:

I just bought my Epson black XL with 3 color standard cartridges for – yes – $124.99. Whew!!!

Berto Discovers Ink is as Valuable as Gold or Oil

Printer inkjet inks are notoriously expensive, often rivaling or surpassing the cost of other valuable fluids.

On a gram-per-gram basis, inkjet ink can be pricier than many luxury items, including high-end perfumes and vintage wines…

In some cases, printer ink can exceed the cost of human blood or even certain types of liquid gold used in electronics and fine jewelry. ..

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J9438, SueW

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I have a lower level EcoTank printer, the 2850. It doesn’t have a maintenance box. I’m not sure where the cleaning ink goes. However the printer more than exceeds my expectations.  I had one time when one of the color nozzles plugged but it was cleared by repeated cleaning procedures. Now I just make sure to print something or run the print test every 2 weeks if I haven’t used it in that interval.

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George1, J9438

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