DIYbanter - View Single Post - UPDATE: "Problem with Canon Pixma ip4000 printer"

wrote:
zakezuke wrote:
I received a brand-new (refurbished? not sure) ip4000 Pixma tonight
from Canon, even though my defective one was two weeks past warranty.
And yes, it came with a new print head and new ink. So, thanks to this
excellent customer service, my opinion on Canon has done a 180:
(reversing my earlier, knee-jerk vow) I will definitely continue buying
Canon products

Cool beans... though technicaly we never ruled out your enviroment or
user as the cause of the issue. Well user is not likely unless you
were printing on cats or some such, more likely is power surge...
something that is always suspect. Given your oddball issue it would be
wise to check your surge protector.. if it blinks it means it's not
working and should be replaced. Many are not spendy, which is good as
they are ment to be kamikaze devices.

Not saying it was the root cause, but it is a good printer, and worth a
few bucks to keep it protected in the unlikely event your MOV failed.

I'm kind of wondering about the cause myself. In the year I've had the
ip4000, I probably printed a total of 70 pages, mostly just b/w text,
and haven't used it in about three or four months. It's hooked up to an
Electricord six-prong surge protector, which it shares with my
computer, my computer speaker system (rarely turned on), a digital
alarm clock and...er, a large, old, and energy-sucking air conditioner.

If a power surge is the culprit, then that air conditioner might be the
problem; sometimes the lights in my apartment dim momentarily when the
A/C periodically adjusts itself. (Though, the power to my printer was
never turned on when I wasn't using it, so maybe it wasn't a power
surge thing, after all.)

Shnaggletooth

Air conditioners, especially the older type, have large "inrush" currents, this
is a very short lived current that occurs when the compressor starts that may
well be several times the normal operating current. So the advice given by Bob
Headrick and Zakezuke is sound.
Tony