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Hi, I can refill MX870 ink cartridges and override the printer alarms so I can print OK. But I would like to see ink levels and I understand the only way to do this is to reset the cartridge chip. I've seen cartridge resetters for other brand printers which have pins and look mechanical but I think the Canon chip may need electronic resetting?
Also, can anyone explain why all inks are being used up in printing except for the small black cartridge 521 BK??? It still looks full from original purchase of the printer.
Hope someone can give me information. Thanks, Jim Sydney Australia
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The CLI-521 BK is only used to increase the contrast in photo printing, when mixing CMY ink is not enough to get real deep black. In these circumstances a little bit of this specific "photo black" is sprayed on your photo printing to give it a deep black punch, which cannot be obtained by just mixing the cyan/magenta/yellow (CMY) inks together. This is the reason only a tiny amount is necessary for most photo's, because deep black area's on most pictures is absent and even dark area's (shadows) are more dark grey or brownish, hence the usage of only the CMY ink to produce these dark shades. The black is consumed when a certain darkness is reached when mixing the CMY inks is not enough to produces the acquired darkness.
Most cheaper printer will produce a dark teint, which is supposed to be "black" by mixing CMY together. Hey, what about the big black PGI-520 BK ? Well: this is pigment ink and cannot be used to print the black area's on your photo paper, because it does not adhere well on this type of paper. It is meant for smudge and waterproof text printing on normal paper. Therefore the cheaper 4-colour printers will never be so full of contrast like the more advanced CMYKK 5-colour printers with that extra photo black (Canon calls this "Contrast Plus"). So now you know why the small CLI-521 BK is consumed at a much lower rate than the other colours.
Now about the chip: use a cheap resetter like the one I made a review a few months ago here:
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4898
It is very to use and not expensive. It resets the chip back to full after refilling using the german durchstich refill method:
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4315
I hope this helps.
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Thank you pharmacist! It's a great help and explains about the 521BK. So I should be careful to make sure that ink sellers give me the correct inks for black as they are different for 521BK and 52PGBK.
I like the blue chip resetter. Does it also reset the Yellow Cyan and Magenta??
I saw a cheaper red one on ebay from a guy in Hong Kong but there is a Sydney seller with the blue one like yours. Yours you say is easier to change the battery.
regards Jim
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Pharmacist, can you also advise me on what to look for in refilling inks to make sure they are compatible for Canon Pixma MX870 printing? regards Jim
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All colours can be reset, including the special grey cartridge for the MP980/990. For inks: I would advise you use the search function on this forum.
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Jim2611
As you are in Ozz you could try use rihac.com.au 
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In Australia, the carts for MX870 are known as 520 & 521 whereas in Singapore, they are are known as 820 and 821. Over here in Singapore, we can get compatible carts for 820 and 821. I use them in my MP568 and IP3680. The compatible carts can be refilled. When the ink level indicator of the printer shows low ink, just remove the cart from the printer and refill it. Re-insert the cart back into the printer, the ink indicator will show that the ink is full again.
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sllowmail,
actually I'm not keen for these refillable cartridges. I'm sure there are also localized resetter available to the CLI-821/PGI-820 cartridges as well. Original OEM carts are far more reliable in ink feeding towards your printhead. The problem with autoreset chips is that when you turn off and on the printer the carts allways will show full, despite one cart can be actually empty. It is better to have a false empty, then a false full, because the first situation makes you more vigilant about the real ink level.
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Jim2611 wrote:
Also, can anyone explain why all inks are being used up in printing except for the small black cartridge 521 BK??? It still looks full from original purchase of the printer.
Hope someone can give me information. Thanks, Jim Sydney Australia
Hi Jim, I'm new on this forum (and in Perth). I had the same question relating to my new Canon IP4700 - all the other ink tanks get lower but this one always stays the same, so why is it needed? I trust that the answer by pharmacist is accurate since he would know far more than I do
I was checking out Rihac's web pages on CISS http://www.rihac.com.au/supported-canon-models-c-26_28.html and found some good info on inks under the information menu http://www.rihac.com.au/contact-pm-2.html
Under the Instructions menu item it covers several Canon models although nothing specific to your printer. The file for the IP4600 also applies to the MX860 so it may be applicable to the 870. Chapter 12 instructs how to disable the ink status monitoring. I haven't installed a CISS yet but I am considering it.
Rgds, Ross Herbert
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rherber1
If you read more threads on this forum you will soon notice a bias against using CISS on Canon printers.
The reason for this is plain and simple, CISS don’t work reliably well on Canons.
If you do a little homework you will find that the general advice is, refilling OEM cartridges is a much more reliable option to go with.
You still get the huge benefits of 3rd party inks and you won't lose the quality of pigment ink for text that you would with the CISS.
You could get a resetter and an extra set of OEM cartridges and then you would be completely setup.
Just make sure you get the right pigment black for your PBGK cartridge..
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