Color cartridge life

I have an Officejet 6500.
I use black ink most of the time, yet my color cartridges go empty very quickly. The printer seems to be going through cleaning cycles frequently and I believe that is why it is wasting ink. Can I stop these auto cleaning cycles and only clean when necessary?
Thanks,
Glenn

Hi there,
If you are generally printing in black and white try going to the printer's preferences and changing the printing shortcut to Fast economical. Then change the print in grayscale option to black and white only. This should eliminate any extra use of the color cartridge and prolong its life. Let us know if it helps.
Best of Luck!
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When print 4x6 photos from my C4740 printer I am only getting about 18 prints from the color cartridge. The original cartridges that came with the print seemed to last forever. Since replacing them I have replaced the color cartridge 3 times and working on my 4 cartridge in the time span of 2 days. The ones that came with the printer lasted two months or longer.
So my question is what could be causing the cartridges to have such a short life span?
Is 18 to 20 4x6 photos normal yield for a ink cartridge?
Also I am noticing that the black cartridge ink level is not changing so it leads me to believe it is not being used. I thought it had previously been used when printing photos but I could be wrong.

Here are some specs re: Photo yield expectations for the C4600 which will reference same as C4700.
HP 60 Tricolor - Photo Page Yield
HP 60 Tri-color Ink Cartridge (CC643W)
Approximately 45 4X6 Photos
Actual yield varies considerably based on content of printed pages and other factors.
For more information about variations/measurment of page yields, see: Inkjet photo yields

Can I print in black and white with an empty color cartridge on a HP Officejet Pro 8100 printer ?

Only the cyan cartridge is empty, all of the other 3 cartridges are fine. I ordered the cyan cartridge online but I need to print important documents today. The power button is blinking when I try to print.
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Is there a trick so I can print before receiving the cyan cartridge ?
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The Officejet Pro 8100 ePrinter has the same print mechanism as its All-in-One counterpart the Officejet Pro 8600. This printer has a printhead mechanism that contains 4 individual cartridges: CMYK (cyan/magenta/yellow/black).
One will have to replace the cartridge, if the unit provides a message of one of the colors being empty, before the unit will resume printing. It is a maintenance mechanism to prevent the product from self-damage. Hope this helps.
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How to omit color cartridge and yet be able to print on an HP Officejet 6110 all-in-one

I rarely print in color, but after a while, the color cartridge has to be replaced because, I suppose, the ink dries up. Without the color cartridge in place, the machine says I have to insert a cartridge and will not allow me to print with only the black cartridge in place. Does anyone know how I can bypass the color cartridge requirement?

Hi,
HP do not provide any USB connection solution for iOS.
As Active Print is a 3rd party application which provide this functionality, i believe you may find a better help within Active Print support as they more familier with their application requirement and functionality:
http://www.activeprint.net/support/
Regards,
Shlomi
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Can I use the black ink cartridge only, & quit replacing the color cartridge when it's empty?

I have an HP Officejet 6210 all in one printer that takes color ink (#95) and black ink (#94). I only want to print in black and white. The color cartridges are more expensive and since I don't want to use them, I don't want to replace it. Can I have the printer bypass the color cartridge (and the notifications that come with an emply cartridge) so it will allow me to use the black cartridge (#94) only and let the #95 sit there empty? (ie it tries to print from there and I get the blank sheets...want to default it to the black ink cartridge 100% of time.) I waste too much money on ink and wish to use the cheaper cartridge (#94) always.

Can't agree more. HP's strategy of getting more sells of its cartrige is notorious. It really drives consumers away. I am ditching my HP printer and getting a Brother instead.

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Yes you will still need the color cartridge. The printer uses what is called under printing, it still uses some of the color cartridge's ink in this process, even when printing in just black, the reason is to stop the black from "bleeding"
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Officejet 6100 - H611a Will not print in grayscale when color cartridge is depleted.

The title says it all. - Windows 7 64-bit
Officejet 6100 - H611a Will not print in grayscale when color cartridge is depleted!
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I thought anyone who purchases this model should know the documents included lie.
From page 31 of the Officejet 6100 user manual: "If a color cartridge is depleted, the printer will print in grayscale using the black cartridge." LIES!
The HP Help Programs says the same thing.
I have hard-reset the printer, removed and reinserted all the cartridges, set the options to "black ink only," Nothing worked. 3 HP reps all said the same thing, "You have to get a new magenta cartridge."
Will be retuning for a refund as I purchased this model SPECIFICALLY because the manual said it would print the grayscale without color ink present.
Have had 4 HP printers over the years, never even considered buying anything except HP. This will be my last HP printer. Extremely disappointed by HP's deception.

Sorry the printer did not perform as expected. I have escalated this in an effort to get this to the right people.
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Refilled color cartridge can't conform to F2120 all-in-one

In a nutshell, I got my colored ink jet cartridge refilled and it doesn't seem to conform to my HP F2120 all-in-one printer.
A more detailed description:
*When I attach the printer cable to my computer, an orange light flashes beside of the image on the printer of an ink drop (just above where it says "Resume").
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Hi shinygray
It's possible that the refilled ink has affected the reliability of the cartridge. You could try cleaning the cartridge as described here . Did that solve it?
FYI, more info in the links below
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00853819&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_US...
http://www.qualitylogic.com/2009HPinktest.pdf
Kind Regards
Ciara
Although I am an HP employee, I am speaking for myself and not for HP.
Twitter: @Ciara_B_HP

HP 6500A Plus will not print black only if any color cartridges are low. It used to. Why not now?

HP 6500A Plus will not print black only if any color cartridges are low. It used to. Why not now? It will print in color if the black is low but not if any color is low. This is very annoying. Printer is using HP cartridges too.

Get used to this with HP printers - its a new feature they have introduced to keep running costs lows - works well. Had two HP printers same happened with both of these. Suggest a different brand - they might not have this special feature

LaserJet 2605dn washed out colors with new color cartridges

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Hi Thomas,
With my iP8500 I leave it on, so it appears to be specifically the behavior of the Pro9000. I did a little more testing last night as I recently re-calibrated my system, and have another method you can try. Instead of turning off "Black Point Compensation" which can leave photos with lots of shadow detail a bit too dark, open up the "Printer Settings" window and go to the color management options. The only thing you can change here is the brightness setting. Change it from Normal to Dark, leaving BPC turned on. I think you'll be pleased with the results. Good luck!

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Yes you will still need the color cartridge. The printer uses what is called under printing, it still uses some of the color cartridge's ink in this process, even when printing in just black, the reason is to stop the black from "bleeding"
I was an HP employee
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@devetta I have attached a link below to try help restore your black supply, can you try the steps and let me know how you get on,
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01410549&tmp_task=solveCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&ju...
Although I work for HP, my comments are my own.
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Carrie
Although I am a HP employee, I am speaking for myself and not for HP.

Hp 99 Photo Color cartridge won't fit h470

I purchased an H470 mobile printer.
In addition to the regular ink cartridges (Color 95 and Black 98) I also got the photo ink cartridges recommended (Gray 100 and Photo Color 99). The #100 cartridge fits fine, but the Color Ink Cartridge 99 will NOT fit, yet The package lists the H470 as a compatible printer for this cartridge.
Comparing the tops, the ridges at the top of the 99 Photo Color Cartridge are different from the 95. I feared breaking the thin plastic lever and stopped trying to install the cartridge.
What do I do now?
Thanks,
fladia
I purchased an H470 mobile printer.
In addition to the regular ink cartridges (Color 95 and Black 98) I got the photo ink cartridges recommended (Gray 100 and Photo Color 99). The #100 cartridge fits fine, but the Color Ink Cartridge 99 will NOT fit, yet the package lists the H470 as a compatible printer for this cartridge.
Comparing the tops, the ridges at the top of the 99 Photo Color Cartridge are different from the 95. I feared breaking the thin plastic lever and stopped trying to install the cartridge.
What do I do now?
Thanks,
fladia
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View Solution.

Here is some additional information from a previous post I wrote that explains the choices for color, photo and photo gray cartridges.
This can be simple or complicated depending on your threshold for "best" photo's. I will describe the various cartridges and their uses, then suggest a few options.
The 98 cartridge is pigmented black ink. It is used for printing text and some plain paper of inkjet paper graphics. It is not compatible with glossy photo paper and is not used for printing on these media. This will be the best choice for printing text.
The 95 cartridge is a tri color cartridge containing cyan, magenta and yellow dye based inks. It is suitable for printing on plain paper or photo media and can print respectable photos. When printing graphics the 95 cartridge may be used to print black in some modes because the dot size for the 95 cartridge is smaller than the 98, so the 95 can produce better looking grayscale graphics than the 98.
The 99 cartridge is a photo cartridge and is swapped with the 98. It contains light cyan, light magenta and photo black dye based inks. Unlike the 95 cartridge the 99 cannot produce the full range of colors by itself, it must be used with a 95 color cartridge. When printing photo's the 99/95 combination can give better results in light areas sugh as sky tones and faces. The results may be less grainy than when using the 95 cartridge by itself. While the 99 can be used to print text it will be a poor choice as the dye based ink is not as good on plain paper for printing text.
The 100 is a photo cartridge and is swapped with the 98. It contains dye based black, gray and light gray inks. The 100 cartridge can print excellent B&W prints by itself. When used with the 95 cartridge it can provide better detail in dark areas than the 95 by itself.
So... the suitable combinations would be as follows. I would suggest printing the same photo with different combinations to see if you find a difference or advantage for a particular application.
98/95 Best for text, best for all around printing. Best on plain paper. Respectable for photo's on photo paper. Unless you print a photo using one of the other combinations and compare side by side you may think they are perfectly fine. Most economical
99/95 Best for photo printing on photo paper. Less graininess than the 98/95 combination, this will be most noticeable in light areas such as facial or sky tones. Can be used for plain paper printing but not really optimum for this.
100/95 Best for B&W photo printing on photo paper or enhancing color prints. May be better detail then the 98/95 or 99/95 combination, especially in dark areas.
I have some 99 and 100 cartridges but rarely use then as I find the 98/95 combination to be suitable for my casual photo printing needs. I do notice a difference in photos put side by side from the different options, but given any one of them standalone it would look fine without a "better" option to compare with.
Bob Headrick, HP Expert
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What classificatin of dye is used in HP Color Cartridge # 61

I would like to determine if the dye used is acid, disperse, direct, pigment or other in my color cartridge.
I printed a coated fabric and the color is wash fast which is very good. I have to determine the type of dye uses

Hello eddyer,
Welcome to the HP Forums.
I have take the time and did some investigating and I have located a Material Safety Data Sheet for HP Inkjet Supplies.
I hope this information is helpful.
Thanks for your time.
Cheers,
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W a t e r b o y 71
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Hp 5600 all in one Wrong color cartridge pryed out damaged contact.

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Thank You

Hello psak12,
I would recommend buying a color cartridge as well as a black one because if a printer is low on ink it can cause the alignment to fail. Also, using refilled ink could cause that also. I would recommend getting genuing hp ink cartridges so that the printer would be able to read the ink levels properly and this should allow you to print out an alignment page. I hope that this is helpful.
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Color cartridge life

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