Each time a warning message shows on your PC informing you that your printer’s toner is low, you have a toner cartridge chip to thank. These chips, also known as printer or cartridge smart chips, are used by printers to monitor the reserves and levels of your present toner cartridge. When certain levels are reached or if any other problems arise, these chips will communicate with your PC to issue warnings. You may wonder “what exactly is a toner cartridge chip?”, “what does a toner cartridge chip actually do?” and “why I need to change chip on toner cartridge?”, we’ll explore these questions in this article.
What Exactly Is A Toner Cartridge Chip?
- Toner cartridge chip is a device that communicates with a machine via direct contact or radio frequency.
- It’s normally installed on a small circuit board.
- It has a memory to store information.
- Sometimes, it has a processor to provide the correct responses.
- It has a power control circuit to feed the processor when necessary.
- It provides power protection from voltage spikes, etc.
- The smart chip usually contains cartridge specific information so that the printer knows that the correct cartridge has been installed.
- It lists the cartridge’s page yield.
- It offers authentication to allow communication.
- Must answer machine commands correctly
- Use correct encryption
- Answer within a certain time frame
- It holds data as needed to allow the printer to monitor the toner usage.
- The printer determines the toner level and writes this information to the chip.
- The chip will send this information to the machine when requested.
- It stores ongoing machine information while the toner cartridge is used.
- The machine counts the pages printed and stores this information on the chip.
- The machine counts the pixels printed (page coverage) and stores this on the chip as well.
- The chip will send this information to the machine when requested.
Now that we know what a toner cartridge chip is, we’ll proceed to the next question.
What Does A Toner Cartridge Chip Actually Do?
- The chip will store information on the toner cartridge part number, yield and region, and will send the info to the machine as requested. While the toner cartridge is used, the machine will send the chip such information like the pages printed, page coverage and estimated toner remaining. This information is stored on the chip and will be sent back to the printer when requested.
- The machine is the master. It first sends data to the chip and then reads the chip data back as needed on all the items mentioned above.
- The cartridge chip is the slave. It must be able to correctly respond to the printer within a specific time frame using the correct encryption:
- Correct cartridge information (part number)
- Correct region
- Cartridge new or used
- Page count and page coverage (if used)
- Toner remaining inside the cartridge
Why I Need to Change Chip on Toner Cartridge?
After you refill a toner cartridge or replace with a compatible toner cartridge, you have to reset or replace the chip in order for your printer to allow you to print. Depending on your specific printer model, smart chips in your toner cartridge may or may not be able to be reset. Some smart chips permanently store toner levels in the memory and do not allow this memory to be accessed. If this kind of chip is in your toner, you’ll need to replace the chip when refilling your cartridge. Other chips, however, can be reset with a chip resetter, a small plastic tool which physically connects with the cartridge chip and tells the chip to return its count of spent droplets to zero.
Some clients report problems with toner cartridges not being recognized by cartridge chips or with chips saying that their toner is empty while the cartridge still has droplets available. To resolve these issues, you should always power down your printer when performing any maintenance or cartridge replacement. Poor connections or incorrect installations of new toner cartridges can also result in many of these faults. Reinstalling the toner cartridge and following your manufacturer’s instructions with printer power off can fix some issues.
Toner cartridge chips read toner levels by monitoring cartridge’s droplet count, or the number or droplets that have been used so far when printing. Cartridge chips are programmed for specific toner designs and will issue warnings and stop printing when certain levels are reached or if any other problem arises. After reading this article, we hope you got answers to these questions: “what is a toner cartridge chip?”, “what does a toner cartridge chip actually do?” and “why I need to change chip on toner cartridge?”. In addition, you can also rest assured to buy our TIANSE compatible ink and toner cartridges that have been installed with the latest smart chips in our factory to ensure 100% high compatibility and reliable performance.
Post time: Jul-09-2019