Customer Instructions for Epson T068/T069/T078 Ink Tank Cartridge

Solutions for Successful Refilling

The Epson cartridges mentioned above have an ink monitoring system that records ink levels.
These instructions have been created to help you best use the environmentally and financially friendly
Cartridge World refilled cartridges.
When an individual cartridge is near the Low Ink (about 75 percent empty) stage, the monitoring
system renders the cartridge Un-Usable and non refillable. At a low ink or empty message, you will
need to remove all cartridges from the printer for refilling at Cartridge World.
The reason to bring all cartridges is that your printer is designed to test and refill all ink lines whether
one or all cartridges are replaced, which spends a lot of ink. For instance, if you replace the black
cartridge only, the printer will deplete the Yellow, Magenta and Cyan during the ink line refill, damage
the circuitry thus making some or all cartridges non refillable. You must replace all cartridges at the
same time.

For Best Results:

Remove all cartridges when they are approximately 20 to 25% full, before the Low Ink reminder
engages. When the cartridge is in the Low Ink stage it will not be refillable.

If the Low Ink reminder does come on, bring in your cartridges as soon as possible to see if they are
all still refillable. In the event the ink level indicator drops to 25%, (see above) the cartridge will
become electronically damaged and not recyclable. At this point you may have to purchase an OEM
Epson cartridge to replace one or more cartridges.

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T069 The Nine pin process in a nutshell is

A) Use the Customer informational handout to educate your customer to bring both OEM
virgin and Cartridge World refilled cartridges back for a refill before they are low in ink.
Encourage your customers to refill or reset all their cartridges all at once, regardless if the
ink volume indicators show ink still in the cartridge to ensure refill success.
B) Check cartridges to be refilled against weight guidelines on filling directions for
likelihood of a successful refill before filling.
C) Test the cartridges in a test printer after the fill and chip reset if possible.

Epson Nine pin cartridge background detailed

The first challenge is the ink level monitoring systems that are designed to make the
chips un-resettable in the event the cartridge has been used to print out a certain amount
of ink.
The printer checks and reports ink levels by using an ink usage counting system rather
than by actually sensing the ink left in the cartridge.

The 9 pin chips are generally resettable before the ink gets to this near depleted or just
before the customer gets a low ink warning.
Although we wouldnt want to, we could make the printer reflect a half full cartridge as
full with the upcoming CWNA 9 pin chip resetter as long as the chip has not recorded a
low ink level.
To keep things interesting, Epson included a second ink monitoring system.
The second backup ink monitoring system is an ink sensor inside the cartridge near the

egress hole.
If this sensor gets dry due to ink depletion, the chip is written to as empty, and the
cartridge is not resettable. In the example above, if we reset a near empty cartridge, the
printer ink level monitoring system would display a status of cartridge is full until the
sensor at the bottom of the cartridge dries. The chip would then receive a signal of out
of ink and would no longer be resettable.
Our current chip resetter technology can not reset a chip that has a low ink or empty
reading due to ink usage counting or a dry sensor.

The result of all this is that if the chip receives a low or empty ink message it is not
resettable. For these cartridges, the analogy of a car gas tank is useful. They should
always be refilled before they are empty.
The solution: Provide the Customer handout to your customer along with their
refilled or OEM cartridges. This handout will assist you in educating your customer
to bring the cartridges to you for refilling before they receive a low ink warning.
High volume users should be encouraged to carry an extra set of cartridges to swap when
cartridges are soon to be low on ink.
Before refilling with CWNA refilling procedures, the technician will check the cartridge
chip status by weighing the cartridge to ensure it was not emptied of ink and damaged in
the customer printer. After filling, CWNA test printer instructions that we will be
providing can be used as a second circuit test.
The second challenge is the printer ink charging system. If the customer has
cartridges in their printer that have approximately 25 percent ink left and they replace one
cartridge only, the printer runs through a charging motion and expends about one gram of
ink for each cartridge. This will likely push the non-newly installed cartridges past the
minimum safe refill weight, damaging the chips that were not newly installed and making
them unrefillable.
The solution: Encourage your customers to refill or reset all their cartridges all at
once, regardless if the ink volume indicators show ink still in the cartridge.

Epson T078 and T069 series Refilling Instructions

Tools Required:
Small vice
Small flathead screwdriver
Drill with 5/64 inch drill bit
Syringe 60cc or 35cc.
Blunt Plastic Cannula- with1\8 inch of tip cut off
Large Epson plug.
Small piece of plastic or rubber (Canon BCI 3/color cap works well)
Round Toothpick
Hot glue gun
Utility knife
CWNA nine pin resetter
Scribe
Optional test printer
Background: The ink level monitoring systems for these cartridges are designed
to make the chips un-resettable in the event the cartridge has been used to print
out a certain amount of ink.
Cartridges must be checked for likelihood of circuit damage visually and by
weighing and comparing cartridge against suggested minimum weights as
described below. These minimum weights can vary by cartridge and customer
and are to be used as a guideline only. Note: Chip may appear to successfully
reset with resetter but still not work in printer if cartridge has been used to below
suggested minimum weights.

Cartridge
T0681
T0691
T0692
T0693
T0694
T0781
T0782
T0783
T0784
T0785
T0786

Full
31g
27.5g
25.5g
25.5g
25.5g
27.5g
27.5g
27.5g
27.5g
27.5g
27.5g

Minimum
refillable
cart
weight
22.4g
22.4g
22.4g
22.4g
22.4g
22.4g
22.4g
22.4g
22.4g
22.4g
22.4g

Refill
8.6ml
5.1ml
3.1ml
3.1ml
3.1ml
5.1ml
5.1ml
5.1ml
5.1ml
5.1ml
5.1ml

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CONFIDENTIAL

What You See

What You Do
1. Before refilling, pull tab back
next to egress hole and check
the ink sensor area (two
squares). This area must be
completely filled with ink. If it is
not, the sensor has likely been
damaged and the chip is not
resetable.

2. Establish desired refill volume.

Check remaining ink
level\cartridge weight to see if
cartridge is refillable. If cartridge
weight is.
22.4g or more =high probability of success
22g to 22.4g =medium chance of success.
22g or less and empty sensor area =chip is
not resettable.

3. Carefully pry up and loosen

the side cover by releasing the
three clips on the valve side of
the cartridge.

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What You See

What You Do
4. Gently insert small piece of
plastic or rubber between ink
tank and side cover to hold
corner of side cover open.

5. The cartridge has an intricate

air vent system that must be
sealed before cartridge refilling
to prevent ink starvation.
To the left is a picture of a
cartridge without a label and a
cartridge with a label,
demonstrating that the air vent
can be seen through the label.

6. Use a scribe to make a small

puncture through the label and
into the air vent. Do not push
through entire cartridge.
7. Push toothpick through the
hole, angling as necessary
until you will feel the toothpick
tip drop into the tiny air vent
end inside cartridge (see insert
left). Press toothpick to seal
hole tightly.

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What You See

What You Do
8. Place cartridge in vice.
Drill 5/64 inch diameter hole in
cartridge as shown.
Important: Drill through the
outside layer of plastic and
stop. Do not drill through the
second wall inside cartridge.
Drill just deep enough to
puncture the outside
cartridge wall, no more than
3/16 inches deep.

9. Prepare syringe by shortening

tip of Blunt Cannula by 3/16
Inches using Utility Knife.
Making sure end of canula is
not pinched closed.

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What You See

What You Do
10. Fill the syringe with desired
cartridge refill amount.

11. Place shortened Blunt Plastic

Cannula through Large Epson
plug on the end of the syringe.
Fill cartridge using negative
pressure (first pull plunger up
and release) being careful to
keep the Epson plug tightly
sealed against cartridge.

12. Remove the tooth pick and

small piece of plastic or rubber
between ink tank and side
cover.
Weigh the cartridge to ensure
insure desired weight is
attained. Do not overfill, as
cartridge weights are used to
check resetability at refill.

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What You See

What You Do
13. Seal the filling hole using
hot glue and tamp the glue drop
making a flat seal.
Che

Reattach side cover to clips

loosened in step 2.

13. Seal the air vent label hole you

made with small drop of hot
glue.
14. Check Ink Sensor

15. Check the ink sensor area

(two squares) as in step 1. This
area must be completely full
with ink with no air bubbles.
Close the side cover and
secure all three clips.

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What You See

What You Do
16. Reset the chip and package
the cartridge. Cartridge circuitry
can be checked in test printer if
available.

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CONFIDENTIAL

T069 Series
Cartridge World Epson 9 pin test printer directions.
This is the preferred method of retesting a 9 pin cartridge Circuit after
cartridge refill

Many Epson printers are programmed to fill all lines with ink when a new ink cartridge is
installed. This is time consuming for the technician and spends ink intended to be given
to the customer.
This information will help you disable this printer charging function and use the printer
as a circuit tester without changing the ink status of the cartridge/s. With this method you
can easy and quickly judge which cartridges were refilled and reset successfully. For this
example we used an Epson Stylus CX6000, but these instructions may be adapted to fit
your test printer model.

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Step 1: Remove all cartridges from the printer. You should install a backup set of
cartridges again right after the test to protect printheads from drying
Step 2: Insert test cartridge/s into the holder ensuring cartridges are seated tightly.
Important: At least one cartridge space must be empty to prevent cartridge
charging! Close cartridge cover. Scanner may remain lifted.

Step 3: Press the (Start) button on the printer

LCD screen from (Figure1) will appear.

and the message on printer

Figure 1

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Step 4: Press (Start) again

(Figure2) will appear.

and the message on printer LCD screen from

Figure 2

Step 5: press (Start) again

and the message on printer LCD screen from
(Figure3) will appear. In our example we left the Black cartridge out of the carriage.
Figure 3 shows that Cyan, Magenta and Yellow are the cartridges that been reset
successfully.
Important: The cartridges with status

or

are not resetable!

Figure 3

Remember that Epson printheads are prone to drying out. Keep a backup set of
cartridges in your printer and print a test sheet on a regular basis.
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