keeping printer on always = bad?

[saddy]

after my previous canon printer's printhead gone sketchy, i became a little wary of using compatible ink cartridges.

how do you make the iP3000 go into sleep mode?

 

[nineball9]

My little HP all-in-one inkjet (PSC1350) will be a year old this month and has spent most of its life turned off. It still has the original ink cartridges in it - they have never clogged - though they are almost empty. HP integrates the inkjets in to the ink cartridges.

 

[Zepper]

Various settings of the iP3000 are on the maintenance tab of the printer properties. there are a couple of new settings that are only in the latest driver (v.1.80a for 2k/XP).
.bh.

 

[saddy]

i was using 1.80, and i upgraded to 1.80a. i don't see any sleep/standby function available still.

were you referring to the auto power off function? i was actually referring to a sleep mode, like how a monitor goes to standby when idle - not a complete power off.

 

[Erasmus-X]

What I have found is that the answer to that question depends on what type of printer you have.

For example, most laser printers have standby/sleep modes that activate after a certain amount of inactivity. Since toner cartridges don't dry out like inkjet cartridges do, keeping a laser printer powered on 24/7 is generally a non-issue.

Inkjet printers however, normally don't have standby/sleep modes - you have to manually power them off. When you power off an inkjet printer, it parks the printheads to prevent ink drying out. While it is true that most inkjet printers will do a short cleaning cycle (which indeed uses some ink) when powered back on, you'll be using a lot more ink cleaning clogged nozzles.

 

[batmanuel]

Epsons don't park their heads until they are turned off, so leaving them on causes the print heads to dry out and clog and require a major head cleaning to get going again. HP inkjets, however, seem to park their heads automatically when they are not printing so they don't tend to dry out when left on for a long time.

That's why when you go to a store and try out the printers (which are left on all day) the HPs usually print fine unless they are out of ink. The Epsons, on the other hand, will show signs of clogged heads almost all the time you try to print.

Unfortunately, I'm not so sure about how Canons handle the printer being powered on while idle.

 

[DanDaMan315]

Originally posted by: powerMarkymark

Originally posted by: Amaroque

Originally posted by: Burtie21

Originally posted by: CraigRT
My printer has never been off except power failures or moving of the printer itself.

no problems.

same here

 

[LoverBoyJ]

Originally posted by: saddy
i just got a new canon iP3000. i don't like the idea of wasting ink each time i switch it on, so i leave it on all the time. i have it for a few days only though. i also intend to turn it off and on if i do not use it for about two weeks, so as to prevent the ink from dry up.

will there be any damage to a printer that is always on?

My old epson printer used to be always on but when I print after a few days of not being used it will always do the head cleaning thing. I replaced it with a canon I960 will turn itself off after not being used.

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: Zepper
I was under the impression that the print head isn't truly parked and capped (to prevent drying) while the power is on so I always turn the power off when I'm done for the day and turn it on again with the first printing of the next day. The ink for my Canon iP3000 is cheap ($12. shipped for a set of 4 tanks) - so I don't worry about it. IAC, the OE set of tanks lasted about 4 months with turning it off/on about once every day - can't break me at that rate...
. My old Xerox didn't have a power switch and if you didn't use it for a certain amount of time, it would automatically do a maintenance routine - could be disconcerting if located in your bedroom and the maintenance routine kicked in while I was sleeping. So I put it on a power strip so I could switch it off.
.bh.

canon park their hesds. my 2 canon inkjets(s600 and bubble jet 4200) park the heads and "standby" even though the light is on and green automatically. when you print again, it goes through a procedure, turning the rollers, moving the head, doing what ever else for a couple of seconds befroe printing(enters standby mode after a couple of minutes, no way to turn off auto standby as far as i can tell). turning it off has tbasically the same effect as just leaving it on. no real power useage when not printig also, since all that's really happeneing is a chip waiting for instructions and a green led light.