The ink pad has reached the end of its service life. Error in Epson printers about the expiration of the absorbent pad service life. What happens if the diaper gets full?
We will very briefly and concisely consider the most frequently asked questions on the topic - resetting inkjet printer diapers, or printer absorbent pads. So, here is a list of errors that stop the printer from working:
Let's figure it out what is a diaper in a printer? ?
On the vast expanses of the Internet there are many articles about absorber, or, in simple terms, inkjet printer diaper(by analogy with a baby diaper, yes, yes! since the function of both is to absorb waste products). The waste product of an inkjet printer is waste ink, which is dumped into this very ink-absorbing lining when the print head is cleaned.
The Epson diaper itself, as well as the diaper of printers of other brands (Canon, HP, Brother), is a container with a hygroscopic filler (something like felt), or it is simply a set of filler plates that are located below the printer bed, or closer to the back of the printer. To avoid leaks of overfilled diapers, the manufacturer provided a special program counter that signals in advance (sometimes repeatedly) that the diaper is about to overflow. Therefore, if an inscription in the style " Attention! The ink absorbent pad is reaching the end of its lifespan" - this is the first signal that very soon you will need to get ready to go to the Econom Print Service Center at the address: Kiev, Les Kurbas Avenue, 5B (the old name is 50th Anniversary of October Avenue).
Resetting the Epson diaper is a five-minute procedure. But in addition to the digital counter, there is also the level of physical filling of the diaper. So that you can be sure that the diaper will not physically overflow and the printer will not be filled with waste ink, you need to replace the original absorber with a new one from time to time. These absorbent pad sets can be found in our price lists. They are usually ordered and purchased after the absorbent pad has expired.
However, there is an easier way. Less aesthetically pleasing, but cheaper and practical. The essence of the method is that waste ink is diverted from the drainage system of the printing device into a special reservoir. The withdrawal is done through a thin and soft tube. The reservoir is attached to the back wall of the printer or MFP and has a sufficient degree of transparency so that you can visually control the degree of filling of the reservoir. So, as the tank fills, it is necessary to periodically drain it. And no hassles with the original absorber, no costs for purchasing them every six months. All waste will be dumped into a special compartment. And when the depressing message flashes on the device screen again: “The ink pad has reached the end of its service life. Contact Epson support” - all you need to do is reset the diaper. Profit
Sooner or later, the service life of the printer's ink-absorbing lining expires, and during the printing process, not all the ink reaches the surface of the paper. A considerable part of the ink is expelled by office equipment when cleaning the print head. The principle of such cleaning is the so-called. forced movement of the dye from the cartridge into the parking unit of the device. Next, the ink is collected in the so-called. diaper.
So, a printer diaper is the name for a pad for absorbing ink among office equipment users. Physically, this product is an absorbent material that has high absorption of various liquid substances. Its main task is to retain waste ink, which should not get inside office equipment. It is for this reason that this pad is called, by analogy with a diaper, a diaper. This element can be manufactured in different ways. In its most common form, it consists of strips made of felt material, which has a porous structure. But in some models, in particular Epson, it is made in the form of a plastic container filled with absorbent material. The capacity of diapers may vary depending on the model of the device, but over time their service life ends.
What happens if the diaper gets full?
The gasket has a fairly high degree of absorbency. But with intensive use of office equipment, it gradually fills up and the duration of its operation decreases. But when a specific level of waste ink is reached, which is counted using a virtual counter system, a corresponding warning appears on the display of the printing device or computer screen. Thus, if the diaper is full, then there is a possibility that the coloring matter will overflow, which will negatively affect the performance of the printer. If the ink absorbent pad has reached the end of its useful life, the pad may need to be reset or replaced. But in general, printers do not have built-in sensors that could monitor the filling level of these absorbent pads, as a result of which their critical value is determined exclusively by software. When the threshold value is reached, the device automatically stops working. Inkjet printers manufactured by Epson signal in advance that the threshold value has been exceeded.
But it should be said that turning off the printer in some situations is irrelevant. The fact is that in places with dry air, this gasket is only 50 percent full. Therefore, in this case, it could serve for the same amount of time.
What to do if the diaper is full?
The printer does not work, what should I do? To solve this problem, you will need to thoroughly clean the absorber. Of course, you can take and replace the old absorbent pad with a new one, but it is not always possible to find a suitable piece of felt. And in most cases, they are supplied exclusively to order, and therefore it is unknown how long you will need to wait for a new diaper. Therefore, it is better to take a full absorber and completely clean it of ink. Moreover, even an ordinary user of office equipment can cope with such a task.
First, you will need to remove the diaper from the printer, after putting on rubber household gloves and old clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty. To get to it, first unscrew the bolts located on the back panel of the printing device. Then remove part of the device from the right side and unscrew a couple more bolts. Next, you should remove the casing by hooking the special latches in the bottom panel, which you will need to carefully snap off. Walk around the entire perimeter and lift this casing until it comes off completely. Lift the top of the printer completely by carefully removing it. Next you will see that there is a cable there - try to pull it out very carefully. This way you will get to the inside of the printer, after which all you have to do is remove the hose from the pump and get the diaper itself.
Next, place the absorption material in a container filled with warm water. After waiting for a while, squeeze it out several times so that most of the water-soluble paint remains in the water. Thus, it will gradually be washed until it returns to its original appearance. In this case, the question may arise: how to wash this piece of felt? In general, ordinary water will do for the current task, but in some cases you can use a good quality cleaning agent.
In the end, all you have to do is thoroughly squeeze the moisture out of the diaper and dry it. Thanks to this simple procedure, you can save on the purchase of new absorption material. True, its volume in this case will decrease slightly, and the absorbent properties will deteriorate.
Diaper reset
You may also need to perform a procedure such as resetting the absorber. To reset it, you will need to download special service programs. The SPUA utility belongs to the category of free software for solving this problem. This wonderful program supports a large number of inkjet printer models from Epson. Moreover, it is suitable for both old and new devices. Also suitable for resetting is the Epson Adjustment program, which will help make your printer work normally again. For more information about what to do if the diaper in the printer runs out and the chip shutdown device works, read. Thus, the problem of how to reset a diaper is solved quite simply.
In general, if your printer's absorbent pad is almost at the end of its life, then you will either have to return it to working condition again, or resort to a procedure such as replacing the absorber. Please note that it is better not to let the ink leak onto the table, and when resetting the diaper counter, be sure to clean the absorption material itself. The main difficulty in this entire procedure is disassembling the printer, removing the diaper and installing it in place, but with the help of the instructions on our website, even a beginner can cope with the task. For detailed instructions on disassembling your printer, select the appropriate model from the drop-down side menu on the right.
What is the “Printer ink pad is reaching the end of its service life” and how can I clear the error?
Error in Epson printers about the expiration of the absorbent pad service life
On modern Epson printers with a continuous ink supply system, sooner or later, every user encounters the error “The printer's ink-absorbing pad is reaching the end of its service life” or “The printer's ink-absorbing pad has reached the end of its service life.” At the same time, the drop and page indicators on the printer panel blink. The printer may or may not print.
In this article, you will learn what an absorbent pad is and what you need to do to return the printer to working condition.
What is an absorbent pad (diaper)?
The fact is that when using a printer, not all the ink gets onto the paper. Some of them may leak from the printing nozzles, for example, when cleaning them or when parking cartridges. To prevent them from spilling onto the table, an absorbent pad or, as it is also called, a diaper, was invented.
This is what diaper looks like in Epson printers
The diaper is usually located at the bottom of the printer and is a highly absorbent seal in a plastic case.
It is he who absorbs all the remaining ink that the printer produces. In order to prevent this diaper from overflowing, there is a special counter in printers that keeps track of printed pages so that when a certain number is reached, it will give you the message “The service life of the ink-absorbing lining of the printer is ending.”
How can I clear the message “The printer's ink pad is nearing its end of life”?
There is a special program for this - the Adjustment Program, which resets the counter for the number of printed pages and, as a result, a message about the diaper being full.
Selecting a printer model in the epson adjustment program
There are two versions of the Adjustment Program available on our website.
This unpleasant message in the printer driver status usually pops up at the most inopportune moment. Especially if you print a lot on an inkjet printer. To avoid being caught off guard, we recommend reading this quick guide.
So, let's get to the bottom of the problem. If you already have an inkjet printer, or you have just read information about this type of device, then you are probably already familiar with the phrase printhead cleaning.
What is behind this phrase? To put it simply, this procedure is used to remove ink clumps from the print head nozzles. Clots form for various reasons: long periods of downtime, poor-quality ink, dry climate, etc. In addition, there are preventative cleanings after a certain number of printed copies.
Where does this ink go? In household devices, directly to the bottom of the printer, into a lining of absorbent material. This printer unit is popularly called “diaper”.
The lining is designed for a certain number of cleanings. Typically, the more productive the printer, the greater the number of cleanings this unit is designed for. On professional models, this pad is removable, in the form of a maintenance cartridge, for quick replacement after the service life of the ink-absorbing pad has expired.
But why is this issue often discussed, are the manufacturers really stupider than a steam locomotive, and did not foresee basic problems. It's all about the famous Russian mentality (well, we're not alone here). The essence of the problem is that they are starting to print on household printers 24 hours a day, turning household devices into mini-printing houses. It is clear that all this is not a good life, but the inkjet printer is not used in the modes for which it was designed.
And if during normal household use the gasket is actually designed for the entire service life of the printer (several years), then in the hands of skilled printers the printer asks to replace it after just a few weeks of operation. The problem that the ink-absorbing pad has expired is especially pressing for Epson. It is these printers, due to their omnivorous use of ink, that are used to print a huge number of prints at low cost.
To avoid ink draining to the bottom of the printer, when using household printers in this way, the waste drain is discharged into an external container.
But the printer knows nothing about such “upgrades” and continues to count the number of cleanings, blocking the operation and displaying a message about the “service life of the ink-absorbing lining” so as not to drown in “waste” ink.
It is actually the removal of the blocking that is the main problem. In most cases, this is carried out using special service programs for Epson printers and MFPs, programs usually called “adjustment programs”. These programs are supplied only to authorized services and are the intellectual property of Epson.
Therefore, these programs are not freely available for all printer models. In addition, there are a lot of ineffective versions of “adjustment program” programs in the public domain, especially for new models of printers and multifunction devices. At best, such a program simply won’t work; at worst, it will turn the printer into a “brick.” I would like to think that such programs do not appear intentionally.
There are also commercial projects that, for a fee, “reset” this counter in different printer models. As an example of one of such programs we can name PrintHelp. By the way, with this program you can see the percentage of the diaper counter completely free of charge, so that you don’t get blocked at the most inopportune moment.
Epson L-Series inkjet printers have a limited lifespan due to component wear and tear during normal use. There comes a point when the fault indicators come on and the error message “End of Life” is displayed. Read below for tips on how to extend the life of your printer before purchasing a new one.
The message may refer to the waste ink collection, which is made in the form of a plastic container with absorbent pads (diapers). They collect, distribute, and absorb ink that is not used on printed pages. Ink collects during initial product setup, during cleaning cycles, and when printing borderless photos. If the printer performs a large volume of printing, the counter takes them into account, including the number of printed and even blank pages. When a critical number is reached, a warning is triggered.
Resetting the Epson printer diaper saturation counter
You can temporarily clear the end of life message using a maintenance program. The Maintenance Reset utility can only be used once and will allow printing for a short period of time. Then the printer is blocked and you will not be able to work on it, even if you replace the ink collection unit.
The problem is not the hardware; it's just a small page counter in the printer that will cause your computer to display this message after reaching a certain number of pages printed. Once this happens, you will no longer be able to use the equipment and you will be tempted to buy another one.
But here's a helpful tip on how to save money and get your printer working again:
Download the SSC Service Utility for Epson printers. It is available for free on several websites. The program allows you to reset the diaper oversaturation protection counter.
- Click on the file and select Unzip or Unzip. Double click "Install File" to install the software.
- Select the Start button on your desktop. Click "Program Files".
- Go to the configuration tab and select your printer from the list of available printers.
- Click "Program Files".
- Find "SSC Service Utility" and double click on it to open the program.
- Go to the configuration tab and select your printer from the list.
- Exit the program. The icon for this program should appear as a small printer icon in your "taskbar" on your desktop.
- Click on the program icon in your taskbar.
- Click "Protection Counter" in the list of options.
- Click Reset Security Counter to reset the printer. If you kept printing past the printer's maintenance alerts, you may have been locked out. In this case, instead of selecting "Protection Counter", select "Extra" from the list of options under the program icon. Select Soft Reset. This eliminates blocking. Select Security Counter and Reset Security Counter to reset the printer.
Learn more about Epson Diaper Change Counter
You can simply type a specific printer model in your browser, for example, “diaper counter reset program for Epson L110.” There is a choice of both free and paid programs for any inkjet printer. This program is necessary because it allows you to monitor the condition of diapers and change them in a timely manner.
On some models, the absorbent pad unit is easily accessible. They are taken out of the container, washed, dried and put back. Some system administrators direct the drainage tube into a separate container located outside the printer. But the counter will work in this case too, because it counts the number of printing operations.
Epson is committed to ensuring that all products operate properly to minimize the risk of property damage or personal injury during the life of the product. Printers are designed to stop operating at a point where continued use without replacing the ink pads could create a risk of property damage from ink spills or safety issues associated with excess ink coming into contact with an electrical component.
Epson offers optional, cost-effective, one- or two-year service contracts for inkjet printers in addition to the standard one-year warranty. Under a warranty or service contract, all hardware failures and service reports are covered by repair. With one of these options, you can ensure continuous operation even with heavy use for up to 3 years.
Another option for high-volume print jobs is to consider a high-end printer with a more reliable duty cycle, such as Epson's Stylus Pro line of printers, which have larger ink cartridges and lower operating costs.