Epson says this about power on/off

kcbeatty wrote:

"It is important to always turn your printer off by the power switch (not by a surge protector or power bar) when not in use, as this protects the printheads from exposure to air and dust which can cause blocked nozzles."

That "important" refers to the use the power switch as opposed to pulling the plug, if you are going to turn it off. It specifically allows the print head to be docked properly, which does protect if from exposure to air and dust. The problem is not whether the printer is on or off, but whether you might manage to remove power when the print head is not docked, and then leave the printer off with an undocked print head.

If the printer is left on, as soon as it goes to the idle mode the print head is docked, and is equally as protected from exposure to air and dust as it is when properly powered down.  On or off makes no difference in that respect.

There are only two differences to powering down and not powering down. The first is that you "save" power. Literally pennies per year. It is miniscule and not worth as much as the wages to have someone walk across the room even one time to turn it off. The second difference can be very significant though, and is what you personally want to consider.

When powered back on the printer goes through a head maintenance procedure that includes a nozzle cleaning routine. It squirts a bit of ink through each nozzle, to clear any clogs. If the printer is turned off daily that becomes a very significant percentage of the ink usage. If the printer is inactive for weeks at a time it is not significant.

I have found through my usage the R1800 that it rarely clogs nozzles when I turn it off between printing days. The ink recommendations were their usual talking points that I would expect all printer manufacturers to make.

It is not turning it off as such that prevents clogs, but rather having it do a nozzle cleaning routine just prior to each use. You can accomplish exactly the same thing without ever turning it off.

You can save ink by doing a nozzle check rather than a nozzle clean before each printing day's work begins.

apaflo wrote:

kcbeatty wrote:

"It is important to always turn your printer off by the power switch (not by a surge protector or power bar) when not in use, as this protects the printheads from exposure to air and dust which can cause blocked nozzles."

That "important" refers to the use the power switch as opposed to pulling the plug, if you are going to turn it off. It specifically allows the print head to be docked properly, which does protect if from exposure to air and dust. The problem is not whether the printer is on or off, but whether you might manage to remove power when the print head is not docked, and then leave the printer off with an undocked print head.

No.  "Important" refers turning the printer off.  Then they state how to turn it off properly.

If the printer is left on, as soon as it goes to the idle mode the print head is docked, and is equally as protected from exposure to air and dust as it is when properly powered down. On or off makes no difference in that respect.

No.  The print head capping pads do not fully engage until the printer is switched off.

It is not turning it off as such that prevents clogs, but rather having it do a nozzle cleaning routine just prior to each use. You can accomplish exactly the same thing without ever turning it off.

Not true.

You can save ink by doing a nozzle check rather than a nozzle clean before each printing day's work begins.

Nozzle checks yes, Never do a nozzle cleaning cycle.

kcbeatty wrote:

apaflo wrote:

kcbeatty wrote:

"It is important to always turn your printer off by the power switch (not by a surge protector or power bar) when not in use, as this protects the printheads from exposure to air and dust which can cause blocked nozzles."

That "important" refers to the use the power switch as opposed to pulling the plug, if you are going to turn it off. It specifically allows the print head to be docked properly, which does protect if from exposure to air and dust. The problem is not whether the printer is on or off, but whether you might manage to remove power when the print head is not docked, and then leave the printer off with an undocked print head.

No. "Important" refers turning the printer off. Then they state how to turn it off properly.

Read it more carefully.  Diagram the sentence...

If the printer is left on, as soon as it goes to the idle mode the print head is docked, and is equally as protected from exposure to air and dust as it is when properly powered down. On or off makes no difference in that respect.

No. The print head capping pads do not fully engage until the printer is switched off.

When the printer goes into "low power mode", after about 15 minutes on non-use, the heads are moved to the capping pads exactly the same as when the shutdown procedure is executed.  (No other action would make sense!)

It is not turning it off as such that prevents clogs, but rather having it do a nozzle cleaning routine just prior to each use. You can accomplish exactly the same thing without ever turning it off.

Not true.

So just what magic do you think accomplished it?

You can save ink by doing a nozzle check rather than a nozzle clean before each printing day's work begins.

Nozzle checks yes, Never do a nozzle cleaning cycle.

Unless of course the head is in fact clogged and needs a cleaning cycle to be cleared. That is exactly the point of NOT turning the printer off  unnecessarily.  Avoiding needless cleaning routines is less expensive than initiating a cleaning routine every single time the printer is used.

On the other hand, in addition to the waste of ink with power cycling the printer, any qualified repair technician for printers or any other type of electronics will tell you that absent other specifics the "shock" of power on/off cycles is in itself good reason to leave electronic equipment powered  up 24 hours a day.

How do you guys manage to insert your replies within the original text ?????

I hate this new forum version ....... 

No preview, things get inserted at the very beginning, no reply to questions from the admins, very badly implemented .....
--
JJ.

Ok I give up.  You're hopeless.  You certainly have a lot to learn about Epson inkjet printers.

JJ Winkel wrote:

How do you guys manage to insert your replies within the original text ?????

Just put the cursor at the end of the line you want to type your text and hit the enter key.  Your text will appear black.  Do that as many times as you like.

I hate this new forum version .......

No preview,

I do miss the preview too.

things get inserted at the very beginning, no reply to questions from the admins, very badly implemented .....
--
JJ.

kcbeatty wrote:

Ok I give up. You're hopeless. You certainly have a lot to learn about Epson inkjet printers.

I have and understand how to read Epson service manuals.

Pkcbeatty wrote:

JJ Winkel wrote:

How do you guys manage to insert your replies within the original text ?????

Just put the cursor at the end of the line you want to type your text and hit the enter key. Your text will appear black. Do that as many times as you like.

==> Doesn't work .....      tried New Line, Enter, any combination all the same

Maybe it's a racist thing and only works with US  QWERTY  keyboards ...

Thanks Kevin, alas see my "red" answer above.

I have sent feedback to the admin, but no reply.

Fortunately I like this forum for it's content, so I will carry on reading, and sometimes posting ...

JJ Winkel wrote:

Pkcbeatty wrote:

JJ Winkel wrote:

How do you guys manage to insert your replies within the original text ?????

Just put the cursor at the end of the line you want to type your text and hit the enter key. Your text will appear black. Do that as many times as you like.

==> Doesn't work ..... tried New Line, Enter, any combination all the same

Maybe it's a racist thing and only works with US QWERTY keyboards ...

Thanks Kevin, alas see my "red" answer above.

It didn't work for me in the beginning, either, but now it does. But it's not racism; you're not holding your mouth right.

Hopefully they will address all of our concerns.  I have been noticing a lot of changes recently so they are working to fix the issues.  I do have faith they will continue to fix the items we have pointed out to them.

I understand that the new generation of larger format printers have made a lot of progress in clogging issues.  I soon will join the ranks.

sjstremb wrote:

A side note, the Epson repair guy said most of the new printers like the 4900 will go into "sleep mode" when not used thats ok he said, just don't fully power it off.

Again, this was all advice given by the Epson repair tech while he was putting my 9900 back together again after replacing the print head.

Virtually every Epson inkjet printer in production has a "low-power" mode.

That has been the case for  years.  For example, the "old" Epson 3800 (replaced by the 3880 years ago) has these electrical specifications:

Printing:  25 Watts

Low-power mode:  5 Watts

S/W OFF mode:   0.3 Watts

Epson notes that low-power mode is entered after 15 minutes of non-use.

The  point of significance for this thread is that when low-power mode is entered the heads are docked in exactly the same manner they are when the ON/OFF button is used to enter software off mode.   That also means that if your printer has not been used for more than 20 minutes it is safe to just pull the plug, rather than "properly" cycle it by pushing the ON/OFF button first.

But if the printer is not going to be used for the next number of hours, the only significance to powering down with the ON/OFF button is saving 4.7 Watts per hour.  If your electricity is, like mine, relatively expensive at 10 cents per KwH, it will take 2128 hours to save $1.00.  (Perspective:  In a 40 hour/5 days a week office that could save $3 a year, but only if the person who turns the printer on and off makes less than $2 an hour and can do it in 10 seconds per printer...)

I just powered up my R2880, over-rode the interlock switch.  Before I power it up I looked at the print head position and the related cams in that area, the heads were parked properly on the capping sponges as they should be with a powered off by power switch.  I then powered it on, the print head lifted, printed the photo, then parked itself full printer left for a minute or so and then returned right, moved in height back down to the capping sponges.  I then turned off the power using the power switch and there wasn't any other movement of the printhead, capping sponges, or the cams in that area.  Thus the print head when not printing parks itself the the same way as when the power switch is turned off.  Nothing magical takes place.

I believe that the tech was telling you that if you leave it on all the time, even though the head is definitely parked properly as when turned off, that you risk clogging because it goes through a lesser number of auto-cleans over time than when you turn off the power using the power switch.

There is a timer (counter) that determines when to auto-clean and this counter does count the number of times the printer is powered on/off.

I also looked ay my R3000 and it acts the same way and I'm sure that most, if not all, Epsons work this way.  The print head needs to park between prints or the nozzles could dry out just sitting there for a few minutes.  Think logically about this.

Bob P.

RandyB2 wrote:

apaflo wrote:

kcbeatty wrote:

Ok I give up. You're hopeless. You certainly have a lot to learn about Epson inkjet printers.

I have and understand how to read Epson service manuals.

And where in there does it say the heads are parked by the printer going into idle? I know in my manual it say no such thing. And yes I have read it cover to cover several times. That is why I contacted Epson in the first place. Also I have never heard my printer do anything like parking the heads while it is still on. Once it finishes printing it just sits there unless I turn it off with the printer power switch. Then it makes noises like it's parking the heads.

It seems to me the right answer is to leave it on if you are going to use it again in a day or maybe two. Otherwise use the printer power switch to turn it off so that it parks the heads and protects them from drying out and getting dirt in them.

You probably have the fine User Guide.

If, for example, you were to read the Service Manual for the 4880 model you would find where it actually explains the purpose of the "Cap Assembly" with a statement that the Print Head is in the "capped position" when it is not printing and during "ink charging, cleaning, and so on".  It is also true that a software reset begins with moving the Print Head to the capping position.

It should not take but a moment of logical thought to realize it would not make sense for the head to be uncapped when it is idle.