Refill HP 802 Cartridge
This is a very detailed piece of information meant for beginners. If you have some experience with refilling inkjets, just skip the introduction.
Please read the precautions before attempting a refill
The HP 802 cartridge series is a relatively new series of cartridges being manufactured by HP.
This cartridge is available in India for use in three printer models HP 1050, HP 2050 and the wireless HP 3050 (any maybe others).
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| HP Wireless Deskjet All in One 3050 (Print, Scan, Copy) |
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About refilling cartridges:
Many people have doubts about refilling their printer's cartridges because of extensive claims being made by manufacturers regarding quality, printer failure, void warranty and a host of other reasons. Please follow the blog to the end to find a reasonable answer to all these reasons while we first get on with the process of refilling for the impatient ones. But just be assured that the process is completely safe.
About HP 802 Cartridges
These new cartridges are available in two variants --
SMALL and
LARGE.
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| HP 802 Small Black Cartridge |
Ink Yields*:
HP 802 Small Black [CH561ZZ]: 120 pages
HP 802 Large Black [CH563ZZ]: 360 pages
HP 802 Small Tricolor [CH562ZZ]: 100 pages
HP 802 Large Tricolor [CH564ZZ]: 300 pages
*These yields are measured under standard conditions using an ISO testing suite (a set of pages printed repeatedly until the ink finishes) and these yields are rated at a coverage of only 5% of a page.
Want to print images and high density text? You could be running out of ink a lot sooner than expected.
At the heart of an 802
The way these cartridges work is that they have a sponge inside the cartridge (and that is what takes up space inside the cartridge, there's no complicated circuitry involved). When the printer signals the cartirdge through the contact pins, portions of the head heat up forcing the ink from inside to outside and onto the paper (hence the name "thermal inkjet")
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| The sponge removed from an HP 802 Small Black cartridge. |
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This sponge (from a small black) measures approximately 3.5 cm * 1.5 cm * 1.5 cm and is inside the cartridge and this is the thing we'd be operating on while refilling the cartridge.
You'll now understand that increasing yields is only about increasing the size of the sponge and injecting a few more ml of ink -- for which the HP guys are charging us a fortune.
Anyways, the job we're supposed to do is getting a syringe needle into this sponge and injecting 1.5 ml (small black) or 4 ml (large black) of ink into it.
Refill Process
Take out the black cartridge from the printer and peel off the top sticker from the cartridge to expose the refill hole(s). [Don't worry if you damage the sticker label since it is not necessary to put it back after refilling]
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| 802 Cartridge after peeling off the sticker label |
The numbering stands when you hold the cartridge with the golden circuit strip facing away from you.
Holes 1,2 and 3 have the sponge immediately below them and it is one of these three holes that we will use to refill the cartridge. Please DO NOT use HOLES 4 or 5 since you'd dumping ink straight into the container and probably will damage the cartridge.
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| Use a standard refill ink brand and any syringe. |
A 250ml bottle of black pigmented branded ink should cost you anywhere between Rs. 250 to Rs. 350. 250ml is sufficient ink for more than 2500 pages.
1) Fill up a syringe with 1 to 1.5 ml of ink.
2) Place the needle in HOLE 3 of the cartridge
3) S-L-O-W-L-Y inject ink into the sponge. Make sure you take 20-25 seconds to inject that 2 ml ink since it needs to get distributed into the sponge. Making it fast would probably make the ink leak out of the head risking damage of circuit. MAKE SURE you place some tissue below the cartridge since some ink is bound to flow out while refilling.
4) Remove the needle and cap the syringe.
5) Clean the head portion of the cartridge with a tissue paper for any overflowing ink. [Don't use too much force, the head is a fragile part]
6) Place the cartridge back in the printer and allow it to stand for 5-6 hours before you attempt printing. The ink needs to reach near the head before you can properly print.
Precautions
1) Do not touch the metallic ink strip or allow any ink to reach that portion or you'll damage the circuit.
2) After refilling, empty the syringe and insert the needle one by one in hole 4 and 5 and pull to suck out any ink that's overflown into the cartridge from the sponge.
3) Do not insert a cartridge into the printer while the ink is flowing out of the print head [bottom part]. Absorb any excess on a soft tissue paper
4) Do not wipe the head with anything except a soft tissue. You may use Isopropyl Alcohol to clean that portion. Printhead is a very delicate part.
Refilling cartridges is a very cheap option when compared to buying a new cartridge every time.
I've been using this cartridge for more than 8 months now. It's a small black 802 which I've refilled way too many times to remember.
My printer's total page count shows ~ 2100 pages. Discount the 100 pages that were printed with the starter cartridge, I've been able to squeeze out 2000 pages from a HP 802 small black. AND it's still going on.
Small Black costs Rs. 425/- and prints about a hundred regular pages making the cost of a print Rs. 4.25/-.
Compare this to a refilled system, assume a page output of 2500 pages per cartridge -- it would cost you 1) A cartridge (Rs. 425/-) and the refill stuff -- syringe, ink bottle, tissue (~ Rs. 300).
Refilled ink would cost you Rs. 725 / 2500 pages, that is approximately 29 paise per page.
Refilled Yields
My personal experience is that a refilled small black would last 40-45 pages so if you're into heavy volume printing or you can't bear refilling too frequently, I suggest you get a HP 802 large black which has a significantly larger sponge. Refilling a large black would require approximately 4-5 ml of ink.
Expected Problems
If you get no output OR streaks of black after printing from a refilled cartridge, remove the cartridge from the printer. Cover the holes with some clean cloth and blow air into the cartridge. This would force the ink near the head. Wipe off any excess ink that comes out of the head and then try printing.
