On or Off, & which one... R1800 ?

billyshobby

Hi guys, might sound stupid by the more i read about this the more confuse i' in.

Got an epson R1800 for half a year now, should i keep it on all the time? or is it better to off it while not in use. i know i should print something every once a week and i did.
Not that my printer has any problem but just like to keep it in good condition always.
One more thing, if i where to off the printer, should i off from the printer switch or main wall switch and leave the printer switch to on. Read somewhere that the best way is to park the print head in some position, but which one i'm dying to know.

Please help a novice here, thanks.

Billy the kid.

cabbey

Disclaimer: I've never touched that model of printer, so my answer is "generic".

Most printers take some amount of energy to "wake up" and be ready to print. They also take some energy to just sit there waiting for you to print. If you're not printing every couple minutes, it's probably better for you from an energy usage perspective to power it off when not in use. And all electronics should be shut off from their own power switch, unless instructed otherwise in the manual. (hint: very very few pieces of consumer electronics tell you to use an external switch.) This is especially true on any thing that has to shut down and get ready for inaction like many printers do. You can test this by just turning it off from it's own switch/button... however the manual says to... and then looking/listening... do you hear it moving around? do you see lights blinking? Is there ANY indication that it's doing anything? If so, then those external switches really aren't a good idea.

That's one thing I love about my Canon, it powers itself off after a configurable amount of time without any print requests; and it only takes a couple seconds to wake up and be ready to print... I usually hit the power switch right after apple-p to bring up the print dialog, by the time I'm ready to print, it's ready and waiting.

entropysedge

I turn my printer off via the button on it when not using it.

pathfinder

I leave my Epson 4000 on continuously, unless I am am going to be absent for several days.

Use the switch on the printer, (not the outlet or switch) to kill the printer also

billyshobby

ok, got it!

Thanks Guys.

colourbox

I use Epsons. What you should do depends on how often you use it. If you use it every day, it's OK to leave it on. However, if you don't use it every day, you risk drying out the heads. When you turn off an Epson, the heads get parked and capped by a pad to prevent drying out.

cabbey wrote:

And all electronics should be shut off from their own power switch, unless instructed otherwise in the manual.

To avoid wasting power, I put most electronics on a power strip and turn it off to cut power to all devices on the strip if they will be unused for many hours. HOWEVER, there are clear rules and exceptions to this. Any device that can be turned off from its own switch should be turned off first that way, as Cabbey says. For example, I would never use a power strip to turn off a computer - it needs to be shut down first. However, some equipment doesn't have a switch and I will use a power strip to turn those off.

Epsons are a special case. Epsons keep track of the last time it did a cleaning cycle, and stores that in a chip that expects to always get power, even if the printer's own power switch is off. If you turn an Epson off with a power strip, you'll reset the cleaning cycle count. The printer will probably do a cleaning cycle every time you turn it on after a power cut. The problem with that is cleaning cycles use a huge amount of the expensive ink. I keep Epsons on power strips that are not turned off.

Bottom line - with Epsons, OK to leave them on if used daily or so, turn them off if not in use for long periods to cap the heads, leave them powered even if switched off.