Epson SC P400: Ink Pad Replacement, End of service life

[SSAL]

My P400 has the ink and paper light alternating when turned on. The manual said contact Epson for Ink Pads replacement. I examine the printer and found it was built not DIY friendly. I contacted an Epson service company and they want approx. $200 to replace the ink pads and reset the counter.

My concern is if this printer will be good for another couple of years if I have the ink pads repaired. Is it worth the $200 to further its life?

 

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Disclaimer: I have a vested interest in the external waste ink approach to solving this so take with a pinch of salt...

That said... The SC-P400 is basically the same design as the R2880, R2000, R1900 printers. All of them have the same accessible waste ink system that can be redirected out into an external waste ink tank far more readily than going into the guts of the machine to replace the waste ink pads.

You do still need to reset the waste ink counter and this can be achieved using the WICReset tool which is basically a pay per reset system where you buy a "key" which you use to reset the counter and clear the error. Important to note that the reset does not freeze the counter, it just resets it back to its 'as new' state and then increments as before. So, if you buy/fit an external waste ink kit you will still be faced with needing to reset the waste ink counter at the end of each "life" when the waste counter hits 100% again.

My solution is the Printer Potty but other kits do exist and you can also DIY the fix yourself if you have the time to research and will to make it happen.

As to the printers lifespan... let's just put it like this... we have Stylus 900 owners whose printers are still going, erm... 15+ years down the line so yeah... it's still good for a bit longer yet.

 

[SSAL]

Disclaimer: I have a vested interest in the external waste ink approach to solving this so take with a pinch of salt...

That said... The SC-P400 is basically the same design as the R2880, R2000, R1900 printers. All of them have the same accessible waste ink system that can be redirected out into an external waste ink tank far more readily than going into the guts of the machine to replace the waste ink pads.

You do still need to reset the waste ink counter and this can be achieved using the WICReset tool which is basically a pay per reset system where you buy a "key" which you use to reset the counter and clear the error. Important to note that the reset does not freeze the counter, it just resets it back to its 'as new' state and then increments as before. So, if you buy/fit an external waste ink kit you will still be faced with needing to reset the waste ink counter at the end of each "life" when the waste counter hits 100% again.

My solution is the Printer Potty but other kits do exist and you can also DIY the fix yourself if you have the time to research and will to make it happen.

As to the printers lifespan... let's just put it like this... we have Stylus 900 owners whose printers are still going, erm... 15+ years down the line so yeah... it's still good for a bit longer yet.

When the printer is locked up because it needs new ink pad and reset, where is that information stored in the printer?
Is it in the motherboard of the printer? If so, that motherboard, when installed in another printer, will still render that printer not working?

 

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When the printer is locked up because it needs new ink pad and reset, where is that information stored in the printer?
Is it in the motherboard of the printer? If so, that motherboard, when installed in another printer, will still render that printer not working?

Ok, that's a new approach...

To answer the question about the mainboard, yes it would take with it the EEPROM data and still need resetting. It would also include the gross alignment information input when the printer was calibrated at the factory so you'd be borrowing a whole other order of problems if you decided to switch the mainboard into a new printer or swap things around.

Tbh, you may be overthinking this as the process of resetting the waste ink counter is incredibly simple and very low cost. Perhaps check out this video as that may help:

Hopefully that'll help clear up a few things.

 

[SSAL]

Ok, that's a new approach...

To answer the question about the mainboard, yes it would take with it the EEPROM data and still need resetting. It would also include the gross alignment information input when the printer was calibrated at the factory so you'd be borrowing a whole other order of problems if you decided to switch the mainboard into a new printer or swap things around.

Tbh, you may be overthinking this as the process of resetting the waste ink counter is incredibly simple and very low cost. Perhaps check out this video as that may help:

Hopefully that'll help clear up a few things.

Thank you for the information.

I have gotten a new printer so I decided to disassemble the P400 to sell it for parts/repair only. I can get a small fortune for the print head. I was wondering what other parts have resell value.

Would appreciate your input.