raymac46 Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 (edited) My desktop system has an old HP Deskjet 5550 hooked up to it - I have it so that the grandkids can print their web based game "prizes" without blowing away all the ink in my wifi connected printer upstairs. Recently the black #56 cartridge on the old printer ran out of ink. Since a new one costs around $40 I bought a pair of remanufactured cartridges from Amazon for $18. They tested OK but when the kids were here doing their thing this week it wasn't long before "Grandpa- the printer won't work." I noticed that although the black cartridge still had lots of ink the printer lights kept flashing. After I took the cartridge out the printer worked with just the color cartridge - but it was slow and used a lot of color ink. The circuitry in the refilled cartridge had failed. I dropped it in the recycle bin at Staples and got a new unused black #56 - everything returned to normal. "The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price has been forgotten." - B. Franklin Edited March 17, 2017 by raymac46 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 I had really good luck with the refills that I bought from inksmile.com for many years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Crow Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 Sometimes what could be a false economy proves to be the opposite. I have a very old Epson printer . I had to buy a flash resetter for the cartridges which was a little dear . Hence for the last ten years I have filled the original ink pots and flashed them without problems . The 4 color refill bottles cost about 5 bucks and do about 5 refills a time . This means that the quality of the paper I get is better than the economy rubbish and still saves enough for the odd bottle of chianti . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 I had good luck with aftermarket cartridges from some internet company (exact name evades me) for my Epsom the ones I bought locally never worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 I can't afford to buy cheap stuff. Everything I buy is the best I can afford at the time and I'm sure I've saved countless moolah over my lifetime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 I own a 5550. I've never used 3rd party inks with this printer so I can't address your issue with that. The lights on mine blink but the printer still prints. I think it is trying to tell me 6 months before it happens that I should replace the carts. I wait until I can tell by the print quality that I need to replace. I ignore blinking light. I have purchased 3rd party inks for an HP 722Cse. In fact, I got a black cart delivered this week. Locally at Walmart it was $50+, the only place that still carries carts for this old printer. I paid a bit under $14 (shipping extra) for a remanufactured HP cart. This is where I bought it http://www.ldproducts.com/ I haven't installed it yet. I got a flashlight out and I saw that the color cart in the 722 was an LD; not 100% sure but perhaps 85% sure that the black cart is LD too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted March 19, 2017 Author Share Posted March 19, 2017 When the light on my 5550 started blinking the printer refused to work until I took out the offending cartridge. It worked with only one cartridge in the printer caddy - though it was slow and ate up the color ink like crazy. I have hplip-gui installed so I can see the ink levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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