Mimaki printer using more cyan from one cartridge then the other?

[gabagoo]

I have a low ink warning and when I check the cartridge I just changed it last month, yet the other cyan has not been changed since may!!!! What the heck is going on here? Prints are great and it is a 10 year old jv3 130spII

 

[Solventinkjet]

Take the cartridge out and rock it back and forth. You should be able to tell about how full it is from that. If there is still a bunch of ink in it, it's probably a bad sensor or defective cartridge.

 

[gabagoo]

Thanks, but my thinking was that you need 2 cartridges and can't just run 1..how is this possible? I just rocked it and it seems pretty empty . the printer says both are at 1 yet only indicates that one is near end and it isn't the one from May. I guess I could just put a new cartridge in when the other is empty and watch and see if the flow evens out over the next few weeks

 

[Solventinkjet]

Thanks, but my thinking was that you need 2 cartridges and can't just run 1..how is this possible? I just rocked it and it seems pretty empty . the printer says both are at 1 yet only indicates that one is near end and it isn't the one from May. I guess I could just put a new cartridge in when the other is empty and watch and see if the flow evens out over the next few weeks

Yeah you have to have both Cyans in for it to work. That was just to test it out. The on;y thing I can think of that may be happening is you have an old worn out damper and it's allowing ink to fall out of the head when it is just sitting there. Otherwise, both cyan cartridges should empty at about the same rate since they are used identically.

 

[gabagoo]

I changed the other one 1 month ago and less than 1 month the time before and usually get 3 months out of them so it is taking from the one and not the other. I will switch out both

Thanks for the advice I appreciate it

 

[MikePro]

i don't think the dampers just simply allow the ink the "fall out" of the printhead. the system is open/closed via the capping station & ink pump operations, refreshing the siphon-effect of the ink supply, but stops/closes the flow when parked on the capping station with "closed" inkpump lines beneath it.
my guess would be you have a bad ink pump that's either not closing, or has a hole/crack in the ink line, that allows the ink to continue siphoning out through the printhead/cappingstation. if its not in your ink waste tank, all that missing cyan might be found in the tray that sits below the ink pumps inside of your printer (accessible via a back cover panel on the cappingstation-side of the printer)