HP 400 manual Troubleshooting Print Cartridges, Short Print Cartridge Life

Troubleshooting Print Cartridges

Short Print Cartridge Life

There are several causes for a short print cartridge life. The information below describes the average print cartridge life for the two recommended print cartridges and possible causes for a reduction to this expected print cartridge life.

Table 5-7. Print Cartridge Life Specifications — Ink Used

		Print Cartridge Life Based on Ink Used
		1000 Characters Per	1500 Characters Per	Normal Print Mode
Print Cartridge	Part Number	Page Coverage	Page Coverage	(8% Area Fill)
Black Print Cartridge1	51626A	500 to 1000 Pages	333 to 666 Pages
Color Print Cartridge2	51625A			250 Pages

1.The 51626A black print cartridge life specifications are based on printing Courier 10. The lower numbers in the specifications are based on using letter-quality print mode and the higher numbers in the specifications are based on using draft print mode.

2.The 51625A color print cartridge life specification is based on using Normal print mode in Windows with an average 8% area fill.

Table 5-8. Possible Causes for Short Print Cartridge Life — Black or Color

Possible Cause	Explanation
Pages used a higher rate of ink	The rate of coverage on the page has a significant impact on the number of pages
coverage than that used for the	per print cartridge. Heavy concentrations of ink and higher print quality
cartridge life specification	significantly reduce the number of pages per print cartridge.
Pages contained graphics	Generally, graphics use ink at a much higher rate than the Courier 10 font at the
	1500 characters per page specification. If possible, print drafts of documents
	without the graphics.
The selected print mode uses	Higher quality print modes use more ink than draft print mode. To maximize print
ink at a higher rate	cartridge life, print drafts of documents in draft mode, then print the final copies in
	letter-quality mode.
The print cartridge is past the	Replace the print cartridge. Use a First In-First Out (“FIFO”) inventory process to
expiration date	avoid a stock of expired print cartridges.
The printer was turned off with the print	A service station is located at the right end of the mechanism. This service station
cartridge away from home position	caps the print cartridge nozzles to minimize ink drying in the nozzles. Always allow
	the print cartridge to return to the home position so that the service station can
	cap the print cartridge nozzles when the printer is not in use.
The print cartridge was open outside	Opened print cartridges must be stored in the printer or in the print cartridge
the printer	storage container supplied with the optional Color Kit.
The print cartridge was refilled	Hewlett-Packard does not recommend or guarantee the print quality or cartridge
	life of refilled print cartridges. Replace the print cartridge with a new print
	cartridge.

5-20 Problem Resolution