BCH Review: A Summary of all Epson Cartridge Refill Solutions

We have summarized the current developmental progress in the refill industry.  Some Epson cartridges can only use resetters, while refillable cartridges or ink systems are available to others.  This document will help us to form a strategy to attack Epson's refilling problem.

We often receive inquiries such as, "Do you have a refillable cartridge/CIS/ink for Epson xxx?"  BCH's ink works on all Epson printers if we say it is "compatible with Epson."  However, Epson has a memory chip on each cartridge.  The chip stores the number of pages printed with a cartridge.  For a printer to recognize a cartridge as full, we need to reset the page count to zero.  Epson cartridges are not always refillable, because of our ability to reset the page counter.

Currently, there are three solutions:

1. Chip Resetter

A resetter makes the page count go back to zero.  It works when a cartridge has at least 15% of its ink left.  Once the ink is low, we take the cartridge out and put it on this device.  An LED will flash red a few times, and then a green light indicates a successful reset.  After that, we will refill the cartridge with ink and use it as new.  The resetter works for both original and third party compatible cartridges.

 

2. Refillable Cartridge with Auto Reset Chip (ARC)

Each refillable cartridge has a refill hole on the top.  The refill process is simple: unplug and add ink.

The "A" in ARC means automatic, by which the chip doesn't reset at will.  The chip only resets when the page count reaches a critical number.  

1)  If we see a low ink level and refill the cartridge, the chip will not reset.  

As a result, the printer will still show low ink.  The actual ink level will be out of sync with the printer's estimation.  Thus, we should ignore low-ink warnings and keep printing, until there is an automatic chip reset.

2) After a reset, the printer will be confused because we haven't changed the cartridge yet.  

The printer will display "Cannot detect [xxx] cartridge" or "[xxx] cartridge is missing."  To fix this, we will go to the printer's control panel and select "replace the cartridge." Then, we will open the printer lid and check the actual ink level within the see-through casing. If the cartridge needs ink, we will take this opportunity to refill it.  Otherwise, we will just close the door to fool the printer.  Once this is done, the printer will show a full tank of ink.

3. Continuous Ink System ARC (CIS)

These chips are similar to refillable cartridges.  However, all chips are together in one array.  A continuous ink system supplies cartridges with tubes.  Therefore, we will add ink to external tanks and not take the cartridges out.  A reset button is on the top of the chip array.  Once pushed, the button cuts off the chip's electricity for a few seconds.  Consequently, the printer will think we've taken out the cartridge and changed it.

 The availability of one solution doesn't guarantee the availability of others.  For example, some models only have resetters.  These cartridges are often rare, and ARC development is not profitable.  Furthermore, some newer models may not have any refill solution at all.

This summary is not only for BCH's solutions.  We will try to get the document updated.  

  • If you see a newer solution not listed here, please email support@bchtechnologies.com.  We will contact the manufacturer and verify the result.  
  • If you find a cartridge without a solution, however, please DO NOT contact us.  We will reply "this cartridge does not have a solution that we know of." 

No solutions for T220, T288, T410, T702, T802

Cartridge # Resetter Refillable Cartridge CIS
IC90 AS-RESET-EP6    
T007 AS-RESET-EP0    
T007-T009      
T008 AS-RESET-EP0    
T009 AS-RESET-EP0    
T013-T014 AS-RESET-EP0    
T016 AS-RESET-EP0    
T018 AS-RESET-EP0    
T026 AS-RESET-EP0    
T027 AS-RESET-EP0    
T028 AS-RESET-EP0    
T029 AS-RESET-EP0    
T032 AS-RESET-EP0    
T033 AS-RESET-EP0    
T034 AS-RESET-EP0    
T035 AS-RESET-EP0    
T036 AS-RESET-EP0    
T037 AS-RESET-EP0    
T040 AS-RESET-EP0    
T041 AS-RESET-EP0    
T042 AS-RESET-EP0    
T043 AS-RESET-EP0    
T044 AS-RESET-EP0    
T045 AS-RESET-EP0    
T047 AS-RESET-EP0    
T049 AS-RESET-EP0    
T054 AS-RESET-EP0    
T055 AS-RESET-EP0    
T055 AS-RESET-EP0    
T056 AS-RESET-EP0    
T056      
T057-T058 AS-RESET-EP0    
T059 AS-RESET-EP0    
T060 AS-RESET-EP0    
T062 AS-RESET-EP0    
T068 AS-RESET-EP0 RC-EP-T068  
T069 AS-RESET-EP0   CS-EP-T069-CYMK
T069 AS-RESET-EP0   CS-EP-T069-KCMY
T069 AS-RESET-EP0   CS-EP-T069-KMYC
T071 AS-RESET-EP0    
T077 AS-RESET-EP0    
T078 AS-RESET-EP0 RC-EP-T078  CS-EP-T078
T079 AS-RESET-EP0 RC-EP-T079 CS-EP-T079
T080 AS-RESET-EP0    
T081      
T088 AS-RESET-EP0    
T098 AS-RESET-EP0  RC-EP-T098 CS-EP-T098
T099    RC-EP-T099 CS-EP-T099
T124 AS-RESET-EP1    
T125 AS-RESET-EP1 RC-EP-T125 CS-EP-T125-CYMK
T125 AS-RESET-EP1 RC-EP-T125 CS-EP-T125-KYMC
T126 AS-RESET-EP1 RC-EP-T126 CS-EP-T126-KMYC
T126 AS-RESET-EP1 RC-EP-T126 CS-EP-T126-KYMC
T127 AS-RESET-EP1 RC-EP-T127 CS-EP-T127-KMYC
T128 AS-RESET-EP1    
T129 AS-RESET-EP1    
T130 AS-RESET-EP1    
T133 AS-RESET-EP1    
T140 AS-RESET-EP1    
T176 AS-RESET-EP2    
T180 AS-RESET-EP2    
T200 AS-RESET-EP2 RC-EP-T200 CS-EP-T200-CMYK
T200 AS-RESET-EP2 RC-EP-T200 CS-EP-T200-KYMC
T220 (R2) NA   CS-EP-T220 (R2)-KCMY
T220 (R3) NA   CS-EP-T220 (R3)-KYMC
T242 AS-RESET-EP2    
T243 AS-RESET-EP2    
T252 AS-RESET-EP2 RC-EP-T252 CS-EP-T252
T261 AS-RESET-EP2    
T263 AS-RESET-EP2    
T273 (wide) AS-RESET-EP2 RC-EP-T273  CS-EP-T273
T277 AS-RESET-EP2    
T288 NA NA CS-EP-T288
T410 NA NA NA
T543   RC-EP-T543  
T580   RC-EP-T580  
T580AB   RC-EP-T580AB  
T5846 AS-RESET-EP1    
T5852 AS-RESET-EP1    
T591   RC-EP-T591  
T604   RC-EP-T604  
T605   RC-EP-T605  
T605      
T616   RC-EP-T616  
T636      
T653   RC-EP-T653  
T676 AS-RESET-EP6 RC-EP-T676  
T677 AS-RESET-EP6    
T694   RC-EP-T694  
T701 AS-RESET-EP6    
T702 NA  NA  
T703      
T786   RC-EP-T786  
T802 NA NA  
Sep 11th 2018 BCH Technologies

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