Epson 3800 Refurbs Printers - Ink Charging Problem

If you are having problems setting up a refurbished Epson 3800 printer, read the following about the experience I had.

Upon opening the printer and putting all the inks in, and powering the printer up, the normal ink charging cycles did not start (I've set up a few of these printers brand new). The front of the 3800 will say that the printer has 100% of ink (all the ink bars will be full). When you charge a new Epson Stylus 3800, it leaves you with about 70% in the cartridges (the remainder mostly goes in the lines between the cartridges and the printer head.

Epson tests all the refurbished 3800's before they send them out, so they already charged the lines (think of this a gift of about $100 of ink).

The first print you should do once you open the printer is a nozzle check. If they are all full and there is 8 different colors of them (see above image) then you have passed the first test. You should change black inks on the front of the Epson 3800 at this point. If you were on Photo Black, switch it to Matte Black Ink, or vice-versa. Now run the nozzle check again. If it looks good, you should be good to go.

I had to do 2 power cleans (one on both black settings) before the nozzles all began firing. It took one last one and it has worked perfectly since. Any questions or need help? Contact me or leave a comment below.

--Michael

Official Epson Statement on Refurb Printers

I installed my Refurbished Epson 3800 printer last night and I was very impressed that it came with a full set of 80 mL cartridges (not the starter set!). I ended up paying $699 out the door. Not a bad deal considering the ink + maintenance cartridge it contains would be almost $500 alone.

Here is Epson's offical statement on Refurbished Printers:

Refurbished Products: All sales are final. These are products that have been returned to Epson. They have been inspected and tested to ensure they perform properly. Some may have minor blemishes due to handling. They are available only while quantities last. Refurbished products may or may not contain a media pack or the same software package as new models. In order to provide these savings and to move final quantities, we cannot accept returns unless the product arrived damaged or defective in which case your remedy is replacement with the same model or equivalent. See Terms of Sale and Conditions.