Besides printing, what would drain a brand new ink cartridge?

Question

I bought a brand new printer 4 days ago. I've printed approx 40 pgs in black and am now almost out of black ink. Apparently, i've also gone through over half of my yellow ink even though i have yet to print a single color document.

Why could this be?

I have an Epson Stylus CX5000 printer. Ink Cartridges are as follows:

Black: T069120 or T068120
Cyan: T069220
Magenta: T69320
Yellow: T69420

Answer 1

The Ink Cartridges that come with a new printer are just starter Cartridges.

They have less than half quantity of the ink of a new Cartridge.

As the previous person answered, if you do not select to print specifically in black, you may be using the three colours to create black print.

Check your print properties and set your printer to black only if you are printing in black.

You can change back to colour when necessary.

Black cartridges
The T069120 is the standard black cartridge
The T068120 is a high capacity black cartridge ( about 50% more printing).

Epson website showing cartridges for your printer with descriptions.

Good Luck

Answer 2

I think the problem occurs because when you print, you did not specify the settings to use only black ink . So even though you are printing a black and white page, the ink used may not be only black and white ink .

The other issue with inkjet printer is that the ink can dry up pretty easily . So I suggest you not to put the printer in a warm places . Place it in a cold area which has no direct sunlight .

The other problem about the ink is that may be because of the setting that you set . Putting on the 'best' setting will definitely use up more ink, and will make the printing job longer .

Hope that helps .

Answer 3

When printing in black the printer underlays colour to darken and sharpen the black.

You will use colour even when printing in black and there is no way around this with any new inkjet printer.

Keep in mind that the cartridge you actually got with he printer are not full. They are trial cartridge and only designed to give you an idea of that the printer can do before they run out. You next set of cartridges will last at a minimum twice as many pages.

Answer 4

Besides the print quality settings, ink jet cartridges also suffer from other issues such as leaking and ink drying. Also, are you printing text or graphics?

One thing I would suggest is that you set your printer's driver to "economy mode" if it has one. The print quality with text will be almost equal to normal and high-quality modes, but will use far less ink (since it's not printing out at as high of resolution as normal or high-quality modes).

Really, the only time you ever need high-quality is when you're printing out photographs or high-resolution images that need the extra color saturation. Otherwise, use economy mode for rough drafts of papers and printing website info out, and normal mode for final drafts papers and other stuff you print out.

(BTW, if you find yourself printing large quantities of stuff in black and white, you might want to invest in an inexpensive laser printer [$60-$100] to go along with your ink jet printer - toner cartridges last for at least 5000 pages in normal mode, versus maybe 500 for an ink jet in econo mode. It may be a bit expensive at first, but it will save you money in the long run.)

Answer 5

I don't think the cartridge was full of ink you should get 400- 450 pages out of the cartridge, check the sponge on the printer where the cartridge sits in the machine.

Answer 6

You probably had some starter cartridges in the kit. Replace with new ones and then you can get a true feeling for how it uses inks. Unfortunately, not many companies test for ink usage results...so the compaines can say what they want.
Good Luck,

Answer 7

even if you are printing black documents, if you do not change your color printer setting, your printer will print your black documents using all of the color in your cartrige... it means your printer setting is set to high quality printing...

there's a setting in the printer option... you have to choose between high quality printing or use only black cartrige... check the use only black cartridge.. you will notice your printed result are different... the printed output on the checked use only black cartridge is purely color black... unlike using high quality printing, you will notice its color is not so black, it looks a little bit light black wid some combination of green...
thats what makes your colored cartridge low...

just find that setting on your printer setting... ive got hp printer thats why we have different location of that settings so just find yours... good luck have a nice day....