Is it possible to refill the starter cartridge? About starter cartridges. How to find out the Canon and HP starter cartridge

Refilling cartridges for OKI printers. Refilling instructions. Compatible toner for OKI. Left toner for OKI. How to refill OKI. Refill the cartridge with compatible toner. Restoration of OKI cartridges. Oka cartridges. Oka gas station. Refilling OKI color printers. Color toner. Chips for Oka. Unchipment.

Attention, we read to the end, we don’t draw any conclusions in the middle of the text - I assure you, it will be more expensive for yourself! Go!

For printers of the new C3000 and C5000 series, as well as for A3 format printers (C8600/8800) in the starter toner cartridges of which there is neither a toner sensor nor a radio chip, refilling is possible, but only if the remaining toner as indicated by the printer is not less 10%. In this case, it is necessary to visually monitor the remaining powder in the cartridge in order to prevent the toner sensor located in the photodrum from triggering, which will immediately block the possibility of further printing with this color until the printer “sees” instead of the blocked cartridge a new one in which an RFID radio chip is installed .

In new OKI printer models, starting from C3450/C3600, C5650/C5750/C5850/C5950, C710, C810/C830, C9650/C9850, refilling toner is impossible, since the printer will be blocked strictly according to the counter reading, and not at all based on the fact that the sensor is triggered . This means there is a need to use an alternative option.

An alternative, of course, would be to install compatible chips in starter toner cartridges. There are places for installing a chip in some starter cartridges:

Now about the compatible toner. The compatible toner produced by UninetImaging called Absolute Color Glossy, which also has a fairly stable quality, performs best when working with OKI color printers. This toner is more refractory than the original, so when printing with it, you need to manually set the paper weight in the driver to a level higher than the one actually used. This leads to the obvious conclusion that on paper of the maximum density allowed for the printer, fixing this toner may not be sufficient. This toner produces more waste than the original, so waste toner bins sometimes have to be cleaned out even between refills, and the number of pages that can be printed with each refill is noticeably reduced compared to the original toner. Thanks to the color calibration system built into the printer, the colors practically do not “go away” on a compatible toner, but the color gamut is narrowed, and the overall impression of the print, according to numerous reviews, is worse than that of a print made on the original (many people keep two sets of consumables (toners along with drums) - the original for critical printing and refilled for shooting or low-quality replication). Buy these.

Please note that when refilling an OKI cartridge with toner, the remaining toner amount on the system counters DOES NOT CHANGE and continues to decrease with each page printed! The printer has nothing to evaluate the fact that there is a lot of toner in the cartridge - it distinguishes only one state: there is no toner. The only way to reset the toner remaining reading is to install a new chip during refilling! The only exceptions to this rule are older model printers that are refilled while the printer is in the Toner Low or Toner Empty state and only when using purchased (non-starter) cartridges.

Another VERY important point. It is necessary to understand that the chemical composition of the original toner and the compatible toner differ quite noticeably. Therefore, if these two toners are mixed in the cartridge hopper due to refilling, the resulting mixture will have extremely unpredictable properties. This is most often expressed in the fact that a fairly noticeable gray and colored background appears on the prints, as well as stripes of all colors along the movement of the paper. To avoid this, BEFORE refilling, you must thoroughly clean the original toner from both the toner cartridge itself and the photo cartridge hopper and vacuum the container well! At the same time, you need to understand that when the printer stops with a request to replace the toner, there is quite a lot of original toner in the photo cartridge hopper, which is enough to print one to five thousand pages (depending on the model). All this powder will have to be thrown away (the most thrifty ones manage to collect the remaining toner and use it later). The refilling process itself is extremely simple: after removing the toner cartridge, you need to turn it upside down, turn the blue handle on the end as if you were closing it to secure it to the photo cartridge, and pour powder into the resulting window.

On printers of the C3000, C5000, C7000, C700, C8000 and C800 series, the waste hopper must be cleaned when refilling. It is located directly in the toner cartridges and is a cavity insulated from the container with clean toner, which is entered from the side opposite the handle that locks the toner cartridge. At the end there is a hole covered with a lid. The lid can open either by turning the locking handle, or simply by pressing it (depending on the printer model). Note that this is the hole into which the tab on the photo cartridge fits when the toner cartridge is installed on the photo cartridge. The return of waste from the photo cartridge is carried out precisely through this protrusion: the toner is supplied to it from below using a toothed belt located in the side wall of the photo cartridge.

Let me summarize the above:

And further. Let me remind you that the use of non-original toner will terminate the original warranty and will serve as a reason for refusal to perform warranty service and printer repair in official service centers. In addition, due to the slightly different physical properties of toner, its use may damage the gears in printer photo cartridges.

Resetting/resetting consumption counters, chips, fuses, refueling, increasing resources...

How counters are reset Supplies? It depends on which counter you mean.
- Toner counter: is reset at the moment when the printer, which is in the toner empty state (see above), receives a signal from the toner sensor and this signal corresponds to a full cartridge. If the cartridge has a chip, then the toner counter is reset when a cartridge with a chip enters the printer, which contains information about 100% remaining resource (read: new cartridge or new chip).

- Drum counter: is reset at the moment when the printer, which is in the replace image drum state, when turned on, sends a pulse to the fuse located inside the photodrum cartridge being tested, and receives a response - “the fuse is present.” Then the printer supplies the fuse with a burning current (0.2A) and again checks for the presence of an unburned fuse. If the fuse is no longer present (burnt out - the circuit is open), the printer resets the counter. If there is a fuse (the circuit is closed), the printer displays an error: Service Call 150~153 (the specific number depends on the color: 150 - yellow, 151 - magenta, 152 - cyan, 153 - black);

- Conveyor belt counter: is reset at the moment when the printer, which is in the replace belt unit state, sends a pulse to the fuse located inside the transport belt and receives a response - “the fuse is present.” Then the printer supplies the fuse with a burning current (0.2A) and again checks for the presence of an unburned fuse. If the fuse is no longer present (burnt out - the circuit is open), the printer resets the counter. If there is a fuse (the circuit is closed), the printer displays the error: Service Call 154;

Fuser counter: resets at the moment when the printer, which is in the replace fuser unit state, sends a pulse to the fuse located inside the fuser and receives a response - “the fuse is present.” Then the printer supplies the fuse with a burning current (0.2A) and again checks for the presence of an unburnt fuse. If the fuse is no longer present (burnt out - the circuit is open), the printer resets the counter. If there is a fuse (the circuit is closed), the printer displays the error: Service Call 155.

Where are the fuses and chips located on OKI color printer consumables?

Toner cartridges for color printers use radio chips (RFID chips), which should prevent these cartridges from being refilled. The radio chip contains information about the model for which it is suitable, the region for which the toner cartridge is intended and the OEM manufacturer (similar printers with a different brand). In addition, after each job, the printer records the current remaining toner in this chip (it is calculated by the printer depending on the filling of each printed sheet). When the printer initializes, this data is read and the printer displays the current toner remaining in its menu, test printout, and website. It is thanks to these chips that when partially used toner cartridges are installed in the printer, it shows the remaining toner in that particular tube. Please note that there is no physical toner level sensor in the cartridges! All information about the remaining resource is calculated by the printer and written to the chip of each of the 4 toner cartridges.

Other consumables - photo cartridges (EP cartridges, drum cartridges, etc.), fusers and transport belts use conventional fuses. These fuses are intended for only one purpose - to burn out at the moment when the consumable is installed in the printer for the first time and thereby reset the corresponding counter of this consumable in the printer. Accordingly, it is useful to know where all these intricacies are located and this article is just about that - where is the fuse for consumables and where is the chip located in OKI color printers. Since the placement of these elements differs in each series of models, we will consider them model by model:

C3300 / C3400 / C3450 / C3600 and MFP C3520MFP / C3530MFP
C5600 / C5650 / C5700 / C5750 / C5800 / C5850 / C5900 / C5950 and C5550MFP
C8600 / C8800 / C810 / C830 and MC860MFP MFP
C9600 / C9650 / C9800 / C9850 and C9750MFP / C9800MFP / C9850MFP

But first, a few general rules:
1. There are NO fuses in the starter (i.e., those included with the printer) photoconductors, ovens and transport belts! In some cases, the heater fuse contacts are not even plugged into the connector!
2. Starter toner cartridges (except for cartridges for C9600 / C9650 / C9800 / C9850 / C9750MFP / C9800MFP / C9850MFP) DO NOT have RFID chips and in most cases there is not even room to install them!
3. The rating of all fuses is the same - 1/16A or 0.0625A (62.5mA). Fuses of a higher rating CANNOT be used - the printer will not be able to burn them and it is quite possible that the fuse located on the engine board of the printer will burn out - replacing it is much more difficult! At a minimum, a fatal error with the corresponding number will appear (see the list of fatal errors).
4. If the fuse is “emulated” using wires connected to the following contacts in the printer using a circuit similar to this one:

Printers C3300 / C3400 / C3450 / C3600 and MFP C3520MFP / C3530MFP

Heater fuse (pins 11 and 12, not connected in the starter heater!)

Photo cartridge fuse

Location of the chip in the toner cartridge

Chip in toner cartridge

OKI C5600 / C5650 / C5700 / C5750 / C5800 / C5850 / C5900 / C5950 printers and C5550MFP MFP:

Heater fuse (left connector, 3 and 4 contacts)

Photo cartridge fuse

Contacts in the printer that connect to the transport belt fuse

Location of the fuse in the transport belt

Location of the chip in the toner cartridge

Chip in toner cartridge

C8600 / C8800 / C810 / C830 printers and MC860MFP MFPs

Heater fuse (3rd and 4th contacts - two middle ones in a row of 6 contacts)

The locations of the contacts for the photo cartridge fuse, the chip in the toner cartridge and the fuse in the transport belt are similar to those used in the C5000 series printers (see above), so in order not to clutter the article with pictures I will not list them here.

C9600 / C9650 / C9800 / C9850 printers and C9750MFP / C9800MFP / C9850MFP MFPs

The heater connector on these printers is similar to that used in the C8000 series printers (see above) and the fuse connection contacts in it are the same, so I do not repeat the picture.

Photo cartridge fuse

Contacts in the printer that connect to the transport belt fuse

Recently, Ricoh released a new series of monochrome printers and MFPs. Visually, the devices look very modern and are inexpensive.

It so happened that the next purchase from the supplier coincided with the arrival at the warehouse new series Ricoh SP150, and I decided to take it for myself to try. The printer turned out to be so successful that it stayed on my desk for only a few hours, after which the client who refilled our Lexmark E120 bought it. However, I managed to take a number of photos and look at the design of the printer in more detail.

About design.

Let's compare Samsung dimensions ML 1615 and Ricoh SP150 - front view

Comparing the dimensions of Samsung ML 1615 and Ricoh SP150 - rear view

The first impression when I took the printer out of the box was that IT IS SMALL. Just some kind of “nano printer”. The design is made in the style of the latest generation iPhone smartphones, i.e. white glossy plastic, smooth shapes. Next to such a printer, even super expensive mobile gadgets will look harmonious. In order to make the size of the printer more clear, I photographed it next to the Samsung ML-1615 printers. As you can see, the printer is half as tall, and also slightly smaller in width and depth.

Let's take a look inside the Ricoh SP150

To be honest, I was afraid that these were yet another miscarriages like the Ricoh S100/SP111 that had design problems with paper feeding. But my fears turned out to be in vain, this is a completely different printer, despite the fact that the paper is still inserted from above, the paper feed mechanism itself has been brought to mind. As you can see in the photo, the pickup roller is now mounted on a metal rod, and not a plastic rod as in the SP100. The paper pickup roller is controlled using a clutch, rather than obsolete solenoids. The pickup roller itself has a classic design and size for Ricoh devices; we can safely say that this roller will not lose its properties throughout the entire service life of the printer. The location of the sensors has also changed and now there should be no false jams.

About the cartridge and chip.

The cartridge in the Ricoh SP 150, despite its similarity with the SP100 cartridge, is slightly smaller in size. This was done primarily to reduce the size of the device itself, and of course to prevent cartridge cloning. The cartridge has on board a standard chip from Ricoh SP111/SP200 with its own firmware. The device supports two types of cartridge - 700 pages () and 1500 pages (SP150HE). As usual, the only difference is in the firmware of the cartridge chip and the amount of toner loaded. Despite the fact that the cartridge has a small volume and is not positioned as refillable, Ricoh engineers did not reduce the diameter of the photo roller. Considering the wear resistance of Ricoh photo rolls, we can safely say that the cartridge will withstand at least five refills without serious loss of print quality.
The toner can be used the same as for Ricoh SP100/SP200. This is either original toner or Samsung universal toner. The cartridge does not have external caps for filling toner and emptying waste. However, the classic hidden plug for refilling the cartridge is present under the lid. Interestingly, the cartridge is structurally similar to the SP100/SP200, but the springs in it are clearly from the Ricoh SP3500/SP311. There is a plastic “identifier key” on the front of the cartridge, I think this is a foundation for the future. How they will carry out a small marketing change to the device in person and “the key identifier will be shifted.”

To sum it up.

In my opinion, the printer turned out to be very successful and, at first glance, very reliable. I really hope that it will seriously push unsuccessful ones out of the market Samsung printers on the 101/111 cartridge, as well as its clones from Xerox. The printer does not have full-fledged electronic components on board, i.e. it is a GDI printer. But at such an affordable price, you can turn a blind eye to this drawback.

PS. While I was writing this note (a month has passed), this client came to refill a Ricoh SP150 cartridge. The client was satisfied with the printer, and put his Lexmark in the closet as a backup printer.

PS. A colleague from GoldPrint posted a video on the official channel YouTube about the device Ricoh SP150, which will be useful for people refilling cartridges.

Starter cartridge - what is it? Refilling the starter cartridge

A starter cartridge, also known as a starter cartridge, is a cartridge that was sold to you complete with a printer or MFP. In general, to be honest, the purpose of a starter cartridge is to quickly run out and force the client to fork out for a new cartridge, which is no longer sold complete with the printer, but in a separate package. The practice is unscrupulous, but effective.

Therefore, as a rule, almost all starter cartridges contain much less toner (or ink) than cartridges sold separately. The difference can reach twofold or even fivefold. As a rule, the buyer finds out about this after the purchase: it is important for lively sellers to sell the device, and then “milk” the client, actually forcing him to buy new printed modules. It is useless to go anywhere or make a fuss about this: you have already purchased the product and choosing a different printer model will not make much difference; a set of a new printing device from another brand will also contain a starter cartridge with a rather symbolic amount of toner.

In this regard, the purchase of a new MFP or printer itself in any case entails future costs. We’ll give you a little advice right away: don’t fall for the cheap tricks of sellers who sell you the latest printer model. Why? You will be forced to buy a new cartridge almost immediately after purchasing the device. Since it will be impossible to refill the newest models for some time, since the system for blocking the operation of the device has not yet been studied in new models; compatible chips for the equipment models have not been developed; software changes to the internal firmware of the printer have not been worked out, according to which the cartridge can be refilled at all without chips, etc., etc.

Is it possible to refill the starter cartridge and for which models? Answer: almost everyone. Forum communities of cartridge refillers are a large collective mind; as soon as a new printer model appears on the market, thousands of people on the same day begin to puzzle over how to bypass one or another blocking of the device, which allows them to refill both the starting and newly purchased cartridges.

Is it worth refilling the starter cartridge at all?

See for yourself. One of the recently released printer models (we will not name which one, in order to avoid verbal disputes with manufacturers) on the Yandex Market is estimated at between 3,900 and 5,700 rubles. The starter cartridge for it runs out after 500 prints, and what matters is not the amount of toner transferred to the sheets, but any number of sheets passed along the paper path. Even if you print 500 sheets of information on the printer in the form of one printed character, the printer will be blocked! Let's look at the price of a new cartridge for the device: the average value is 4,000 rubles!

What happens? You bought a horse, but it turned out that its horseshoes are gold!

For C3100/C3200/C5200/C5250/C5400/C5450 printers, the answer to this question is no. The starter cartridge of these printers does not have a toner sensor that can tell the printer that the toner level is high. After using the starter kit, you must install purchased toner cartridges in the printer that have toner sensors. This does not apply to starter toners for the C5100 and C5300 printers (discontinued in the summer of 2004) - their starter cartridges were the same in design as regular ones (with a toner sensor), but only 30% of the total volume was filled with toner .

For printers of the new C3000 and C5000 series, as well as for A3 format printers (C8600/8800) in the starter toner cartridges of which there is neither a toner sensor nor a radio chip, refilling is possible, but only if the remaining toner as indicated by the printer is not less 10%. In this case, it is necessary to visually monitor the remaining powder in the cartridge in order to prevent the toner sensor located in the photodrum from triggering, which will immediately block the possibility of further printing with this color until the printer “sees” instead of the blocked cartridge a new one in which an RFID radio chip is installed .

In new OKI printer models, starting from C3450/C3600, C5650/C5750/C5850/C5950, C710, C810/C830, C9650/C9850, refilling toner is impossible, since the printer will be blocked strictly according to the counter reading, and not at all based on the fact that the sensor is triggered . This means there is a need to use an alternative option.

An alternative, of course, would be to install compatible chips in starter toner cartridges. There are places for installing the chip in some starter cartridges:

Having opened the lid, you just need to insert a compatible chip into the cavity behind it, which you can purchase, for example, here. However, most starter cartridges do not have a ready-made cavity for installing a chip. Accordingly, we either buy original cartridges once and then put a compatible chip in place of the old one, or simply glue it with tape on top of the starter cartridge strictly under the chip reader - a white plastic “box” located next to the LED line of each color on the printer lid.

Now about the compatible toner. The compatible toner produced by UninetImaging called Absolute Color Glossy, which also has a fairly stable quality, performs best when working with OKI color printers. This toner is more refractory than the original, so when printing with it, you need to manually set the paper weight in the driver to a level higher than the one actually used. This leads to the obvious conclusion that on paper of the maximum density allowed for the printer, fixing this toner may not be sufficient. This toner produces more waste than the original, so waste toner bins sometimes have to be cleaned out even between refills, and the number of pages that can be printed with each refill is noticeably reduced compared to the original toner. Thanks to the color calibration system built into the printer, the colors practically do not “go away” on a compatible toner, but the color gamut is narrowed, and the overall impression of the print, according to numerous reviews, is worse than that of a print made on the original (many people keep two sets of consumables (toners along with drums) - the original for critical printing and refilled for shooting or low-quality replication).

Please note that when refilling an OKI cartridge with toner, the remaining toner amount on the system counters DOES NOT CHANGE and continues to decrease with each page printed! The printer has nothing to evaluate the fact that there is a lot of toner in the cartridge - it distinguishes only one state: there is no toner. The only way to reset the toner remaining reading is to install a new chip during refilling! The only exceptions to this rule are older model printers that are refilled while the printer is in the Toner Low or Toner Empty state and only when using purchased (non-starter) cartridges.

Another VERY important point. It is necessary to understand that the chemical composition of the original toner and the compatible toner differ quite noticeably. Therefore, if these two toners are mixed in the cartridge hopper due to refilling, the resulting mixture will have extremely unpredictable properties. This is most often expressed in the fact that a fairly noticeable gray and colored background appears on the prints, as well as stripes of all colors along the movement of the paper. To avoid this, BEFORE refilling, you must thoroughly clean the original toner from both the toner cartridge itself and the photo cartridge hopper and vacuum the container well! At the same time, you need to understand that when the printer stops with a request to replace the toner, there is quite a lot of original toner in the photo cartridge hopper, which is enough to print one to five thousand pages (depending on the model). All this powder will have to be thrown away (the most thrifty ones manage to collect the remaining toner and use it later). The refilling process itself is extremely simple: after removing the toner cartridge, you need to turn it upside down, turn the blue handle on the end as if you were closing it to secure it to the photo cartridge, and pour powder into the resulting window.

On printers of the C3000, C5000, C7000, C700, C8000 and C800 series, the waste hopper must be cleaned when refilling. It is located directly in the toner cartridges and is a cavity insulated from the container with clean toner, which is entered from the side opposite the handle that locks the toner cartridge. At the end there is a hole covered with a lid. The lid can open either by turning the locking handle, or simply by pressing it (depending on the printer model). Note that this is the hole into which the tab on the photo cartridge fits when the toner cartridge is installed on the photo cartridge. The return of waste from the photo cartridge is carried out precisely through this protrusion: the toner is supplied to it from below using a toothed belt located in the side wall of the photo cartridge.

Let me summarize the above:

Starter cartridges for older models cannot be refilled - it is useless. Purchased toner cartridges from older models can be refilled without restrictions.
Starter cartridges for new models can be refilled, but only with the installation of a new chip. In most cases, the chip will need to be glued to the top of the cartridge (see chip placement locations). Purchased toner cartridges can also be refilled by replacing the chip, but it must be inserted into its original place instead of the used one.
Before refueling, be sure to clean the waste hopper!
Before refilling, be sure to clean the insides of both the toner cartridge and the photo cartridge from any remnants of the original toner!

And further. Let me remind you that the use of non-original toner terminates the company warranty and will serve as a reason for refusal to perform warranty service and repair the printer at official service centers. In addition, due to the slightly different physical properties of toner, its use may damage the gears in printer photo cartridges.

Resetting/resetting consumption counters, chips, fuses, refueling, increasing resources...

How are consumables counters reset? It depends on which counter you mean.
- Toner counter: is reset at the moment when the printer, which is in the toner empty state (see above), receives a signal from the toner sensor and this signal corresponds to a full cartridge. If the cartridge has a chip, then the toner counter is reset when a cartridge with a chip enters the printer, which contains information about 100% remaining resource (read: new cartridge or new chip).

- Drum counter: is reset at the moment when the printer, which is in the replace image drum state, when turned on, sends a pulse to the fuse located inside the photodrum cartridge being tested, and receives a response - “the fuse is present.” Then the printer supplies the fuse with a burning current (0.2A) and again checks for the presence of an unburned fuse. If the fuse is no longer present (burnt out - the circuit is open), the printer resets the counter. If there is a fuse (the circuit is closed), the printer displays an error: Service Call 150~153 (the specific number depends on the color: 150 - yellow, 151 - magenta, 152 - cyan, 153 - black);

- Conveyor belt counter: is reset at the moment when the printer, which is in the replace belt unit state, sends a pulse to the fuse located inside the transport belt and receives a response - “the fuse is present.” Then the printer supplies the fuse with a burning current (0.2A) and again checks for the presence of an unburned fuse. If the fuse is no longer present (burnt out - the circuit is open), the printer resets the counter. If there is a fuse (the circuit is closed), the printer displays the error: Service Call 154;

- Fuser counter: resets at the moment when the printer, which is in the replace fuser unit state, sends a pulse to the fuse located inside the fuser and receives a response - “the fuse is present.” Then the printer supplies the fuse with a burning current (0.2A) and again checks for the presence of an unburnt fuse. If the fuse is no longer present (burnt out - the circuit is open), the printer resets the counter. If there is a fuse (the circuit is closed), the printer displays the error: Service Call 155.

To extend the life of consumables (photodrums, oven, transport belt) and reset their counters, you need to replace them (reinstall if these items were supplied with the printer) a ceramic fuse with a rating of 0.0625A (1/16A).

Where are the fuses and chips located on OKI color printer consumables?

Reset circuit photo cartridge fuse for C9000 printer

Printers C3300 / C3400 / C3450 / C3600 and MFP C3520MFP / C3530MFP

Heater fuse (pins 11 and 12, not connected in the starter heater!)

Photo cartridge fuse

Placement chip in toner cartridge

Chip in toner cartridge

OKI C5600 / C5650 / C5700 / C5750 / C5800 / C5850 / C5900 / C5950 printers and C5550MFP MFP:

Heater fuse(left connector, 3 and 4 pins)

Photo cartridge fuse

Contacts in the printer that connect to the transport belt fuse

Location of the fuse in the transport belt

Location of the chip in the toner cartridge

Chip in toner cartridge

C8600 / C8800 / C810 / C830 printers and MC860MFP MFPs

Heater fuse (3rd and 4th contacts - two middle ones in a row of 6 contacts)

The heater connector on these printers is similar to that used in the C8000 series printers (see above) and the fuse connection contacts in it are the same, so I do not repeat the picture.

Photo cartridge fuse

Contacts in the printer that connect to the transport belt fuse

Location of the fuse in the transport belt

Location of the chip in the toner cartridge (under the color sticker)

Radio chip in toner cartridge

Refilling OKI cartridges

For OKI color printers, there are only 2 types of original toners (we mean the powder itself, not the cartridges!): regular toner and high-definition toner. Regular toner is used in all older models (those printers that did not have chips in the toner cartridges), the new high-definition toner is used in all new models (those whose toner cartridges are protected by chips - see above). According to the public, the most successful compatible toner for OKI color printers is Static Control Universal gloggy (OKIUNIV and OKIUNIV2) and by a rather strange coincidence, this toner works equally well in both old and new printer models.
REFUELING VOIDS THE WARRANTY!!!

Together with laser printer or MFP, depending on the manufacturer and delivery package, a starter cartridge (most often) or a standard (full-fledged) one is supplied. The difference is that the starter cartridge is designed to print fewer pages, this is done so that the cartridge runs out faster and you shell out money for a new one, and this is achieved in different ways:

Type 1. Physically, i.e. The design of the toner hopper is of reduced volume and perhaps there is a chip for this volume; it is simply not physically possible to put a lot of toner into such a cartridge ("paint" - in simple terms). This is the most common option for HP and Canon. Here, if you want the cartridge to last longer, buy a full-fledged one. Carefully! don’t buy the cut down one again, yes they are also sold separately :-) (there were such cases, for example samsung mlt-d104x)

Type 2. The device of the cartridge is exactly the same as a full-fledged one, but initially it contains significantly less toner and perhaps there is also a chip designed for this small volume. When refilling such a cartridge, you can add more toner and change the chip or flash the device if necessary, in this case you will receive a full-fledged cartridge, a prime example of the Xerox 3010/3045. This option is of course better because you don’t need to buy a new cartridge for a larger number of prints, but sometimes there are other disadvantages, more on them below.

Some information on manufacturers (not applicable to all models):

Samsung and Xerox have mostly “type 2” cartridges (indicated above) on their “home (not large print volumes ~1000 pages)” printers and MFPs (cartridges mlt-d101s, mlt-d104s, etc.), which is of course good , because you don’t need to buy a new cartridge for the full volume, but as a minus, if you want to refill it, you will often need to replace the chip or update the device’s firmware. At Samsung, a reduced cartridge may be designated by the letter “X”, for example MLT-D104X, a standard one is designated as S, for example MLT-D104S, but this does not mean that the cartridge, if it comes with the device, will not be initially refilled fewer pages because initially he is "type2".

For HP and Canon, on “home (small print volumes ~1000 pages)” printers and MFPs (cartridges cb435a, cb436a, ce278a, ce285a, ce283a) most often “type 1”, but the big advantage is that there is no need to flash the device when refilling or change the chip. The HP starter differs visually in the label (photo below) and the size of the toner hopper. More professional models come with just a standard cartridge (for example 505A).

Brother differs in the presence or absence of a reset flag.

So it would be a good idea to read the package contents and find out which cartridge is in the box with the printer or multifunction printer, because for example, when buying an HP, it happens that there is a full-fledged one, and the cost is about 500 rubles higher, which is not comparable to buying a new cartridge.

There is also an option of increased volume i.e. more than the starting and standard ones, different manufacturers they are designated differently. Also, an increased volume cartridge can have several varieties (enlargement levels), for example, 2000 pages, 5000 pages, 10000 pages, etc.

For example, from HP such cartridges have the letter “X” at the end of the model, for example CE505X (6500 pages), and the standard one is CE505A for only 2300 pages (not to be confused with Samsung, their “X” denotes a reduced volume)

At Samsung, the increased volume is indicated by the letter L, E, U, etc. for example MLT-D203L (5000 pages), MLT-D203E (10000 pages), MLT-D203U (15000 pages), the standard MLT-D203S is only 3000 pages. Here is a photo example: