Tricking Epson Printer Cartridges?

[gabryant]

I have an Epson Stylus CX 5400 ink jet printer. During head cleanings, the color heads are cleaned, using up ink from the three color cartridges.

Currently, my color cartridges are half full. Yet, I have not run many color prints lately. This is wasting my money to replace color cartridges. But if I pull the color cartridges out, or put empty ones in the slots, the printer gives me an error message and won't print until I put the fresh ones back in.

Is there any way to "trick" the printer into thinking that the cartridges have ink in them, to think that there are cartridges in the slots so that I don't waste ink?

[mattchall]

Many of the newer Epson ink carts have a small circuit board on them. Without replacing this board, you old carts are useless. Another reason why trying to refill Epson carts is not worth it. All ink jet printers use ink when running the cleaning cycle. The amount used and the frequency of cycles is written in the unit's firmware.

[malamute]

a few years ago i made the mistake of using refills and after that i spent ages trying to clean the heads.i have an Epson R800 now and there is no way that i will risk useing refills,i get my cartridges at trade price anyway