HP 5550

  • Thread starter Thread starter John McWilliams
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John McWilliams

Trying to decide whether to upgrade to a really good photo printer- now
have only an HP dj 5550, with a "photo" cart which replaces the black
for "better" color. Makes a six cart printer out of a four cart one....

In the mean time, the regular color cartridge said it was out of ink,
equally all three colors were at 0. So, I replaced it with a previous
cartridge I had saved, and it, too, shows 0 ink levels, although it
prints..... Don't see anyplace to refresh the reading, thought I
remembered it in the print dialogue. Running osX.3.5 on dual power mac G-4.

Are these HP carts subject to date expiry? (I thought I had read about
that but re the high end photo printers.) Are they likely to give a 0
ink reading but still have a bunch of ink left?
 
John said:
Trying to decide whether to upgrade to a really good photo printer- now
have only an HP dj 5550, with a "photo" cart which replaces the black
for "better" color. Makes a six cart printer out of a four cart one....
Click to expand...

The HP 5550 prints fairly decent photos. It may not be the best, but
it's certainly not bad.

I think before you upgrade, you should compare photos from newer models
and see if the improvement justifies the cost.

Also, if you intend to print a lot of photos remember that it's going to
cost a lot in the form of ink and paper supplies, unless you refill your
ink cartridges and buy third-party photo paper. It's much less expensive
to go down to the local photo lab and have them run off a series of
prints from a memory card or CD.
In the mean time, the regular color cartridge said it was out of ink,
equally all three colors were at 0. So, I replaced it with a previous
cartridge I had saved, and it, too, shows 0 ink levels, although it
prints..... Don't see anyplace to refresh the reading, thought I
remembered it in the print dialogue. Running osX.3.5 on dual power mac G-4.
Click to expand...

I believe HP printers read the cartridge serial numbers and uses them to
determine if it's a new cartridge or not. Putting in a previously used
cartridge will not reset the ink levels, unless you've used 2-3 others
beforehand.
Are these HP carts subject to date expiry? (I thought I had read about
that but re the high end photo printers.)
Click to expand...

I think all ink cartridges have an expiry data.
Are they likely to give a 0
ink reading but still have a bunch of ink left?
Click to expand...

Perhaps. I don't know the exact details of how the printer monitors
cartridges.
 
In the mean time, the regular color cartridge said it was out of ink, equally
all three colors were at 0. So, I replaced it with a previous cartridge I had
saved, and it, too, shows 0 ink levels, although it prints..... Don't see
anyplace to refresh the reading, thought I remembered it in the print
dialogue. Running osX.3.5 on dual power mac G-4.

Are these HP carts subject to date expiry? (I thought I had read about that
but re the high end photo printers.) Are they likely to give a 0 ink reading
but still have a bunch of ink left?
Click to expand...

There is an expiration date printed on the cartridge, but this is only for end
of warranty information. The DeskJet printers do not enforce (or even read)
expiration dates from the cartridges. It is possible that very old cartridges
may be missing a color or two, but nothing in the cartridge or printer would
cause a cartridge to stop working on a particular date.

As for the low on ink indicator, it is meant to be a warning and will usually
give a warning before the cartridge actually runs out of ink. When a cartridge
says "0" for the ink level it is just a warning that you are running low on ink
and should have a replacement on hand. You can continue to use the cartridge
until it actually runs out of ink. See:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bpd07521
which is for a different model but the indicator works the same.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP
 
Bob said:
There is an expiration date printed on the cartridge, but this is only for end
of warranty information. The DeskJet printers do not enforce (or even read)
expiration dates from the cartridges. It is possible that very old cartridges
may be missing a color or two, but nothing in the cartridge or printer would
cause a cartridge to stop working on a particular date.

As for the low on ink indicator, it is meant to be a warning and will usually
give a warning before the cartridge actually runs out of ink. When a cartridge
says "0" for the ink level it is just a warning that you are running low on ink
and should have a replacement on hand. You can continue to use the cartridge
until it actually runs out of ink. See:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bpd07521
which is for a different model but the indicator works the same.
Click to expand...

Tanks.... I mean, thanks, but maybe I should get tanks. The article, tho
written for a different inkjet, seems to apply to the 5550 as well. It
says it'll remember the previous cart when reinserted. It seems to weigh
more than an empty one, but I don't have precise enough measuring
equipment to interpolate between an empty and full cart. I suppose a
refill store could tell me how much ink is left?
 
Tanks.... I mean, thanks, but maybe I should get tanks. The article, tho
written for a different inkjet, seems to apply to the 5550 as well. It
says it'll remember the previous cart when reinserted. It seems to weigh
more than an empty one, but I don't have precise enough measuring
equipment to interpolate between an empty and full cart. I suppose a
refill store could tell me how much ink is left?
Click to expand...


The HP 5550 doesn't 'know' the ink level. When you insert a new cart,
it just estimates your ink usage as you progress. It will 'remember'
two ink carts by the id number.
 
I have an HP 5550 and use the photo cartridge with very good results.
Recently I purchased an HP Photosmart 375 printer (prints 4x6 only) because
I thought I would get much better results. But that wasn't the case.
Although the prints from the 375 were very good, the prints from the 5550
were better in my opinion. Returned the 375 and will keep using the 5550.
 
The HP 5550 doesn't 'know' the ink level. When you insert a new cart,
it just estimates your ink usage as you progress. It will 'remember'
two ink carts by the id number.
Click to expand...

The DeskJet 5550 counts individual drops as they are fired, and makes some
corrections based on the environmental conditions to estimate the amount of ink
left. It tends to be conservative, giving a warning early enough to give you
time to get a replacement.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP
 
I agree, the 5550 is a good 'un. I've just asked a friend to print out the
same photos as me on his new Epson R300. His results were better than mine
on photos with bold colours and also had better shadow detail, mine looked
faded in comparison, so I played around with my HP driver settings and was
able to match the Epson's output by choosing a different paper setting. I
was on the verge of buying an R300 but now there's no need.
 
Bob said:
The DeskJet 5550 counts individual drops as they are fired, and makes some
corrections based on the environmental conditions to estimate the amount of ink
left. It tends to be conservative, giving a warning early enough to give you
time to get a replacement.
Click to expand...

Do all HP printers count individual drops?
 
SteveB said:
I agree, the 5550 is a good 'un. I've just asked a friend to print out the
same photos as me on his new Epson R300. His results were better than mine
on photos with bold colours and also had better shadow detail, mine looked
faded in comparison, so I played around with my HP driver settings and was
able to match the Epson's output by choosing a different paper setting. I
was on the verge of buying an R300 but now there's no need.
Click to expand...
How ironic! (For me; I will explain). Last night I picked up, so to
speak, an R300, not fully on impulse, but partly, as it was at a price
of $79 (with a new Mac G-5).

What adjustments did you make? Or what paper and paper setting did you use?
 
I had a pack of Kodak Premium Photo Paper I bought cheap over a year ago and
I thought it was time I tried it out. The best setting was HP Colorfast
glossy with the ink volume slider up one notch. Refill inks were used, but
I've never found anything other than very minor differences between the ink
I use and original HP inks. I'll be more adventurous with adjusting paper
settings with other papers in future, it definitely makes a huge difference.
It helped a lot having the R300 prints to compare with my own efforts.
 
SteveB said:
I had a pack of Kodak Premium Photo Paper I bought cheap over a year ago and
I thought it was time I tried it out. The best setting was HP Colorfast
glossy with the ink volume slider up one notch. Refill inks were used, but
I've never found anything other than very minor differences between the ink
I use and original HP inks. I'll be more adventurous with adjusting paper
settings with other papers in future, it definitely makes a huge difference.
It helped a lot having the R300 prints to compare with my own efforts.
Click to expand...
Weell, I'll be hornswaggled again. The R300 and the Ilford icc profiles
for the Classic Pearl works just as advertised, and I got great results
out of the chute. Guess my monitor's calibration ain't bad at all.

Ilford's instructions are very good. First time I have printed with a
paper profile, and hope it ain't the last. For now I am sticking to
manufacturer's inks, and a very few papers.
 
Bill said:
Do all HP printers count individual drops?
Click to expand...

About all the current HP DeskJet, Officejet, PSC, Photosmart and Business
Inkjet Profession do this. Specifically, I know that all printers that use the
#78, #56, or #96 cartridges use drop counting to estimate ink usage.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP
 
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