We have had a few problems reported from customers when using and filling PGI-550 and CLI-551 refillable cartridges for Canon printer models, for the first time.
We had a look at this and found that ink transfer from the ink chamber to the sponge chamber was slow and in many instances non existent. We spoke with a couple of our “friendly competitors” and they confirmed that they had the same issues that we were having. Looking into this further and discussing with the factory, pinpointed the problem to the use of a high density foam that had less absorbency than sponges used in previous cartridges.
The reason given for the change to the new sponge type used, was to allow for better ink flow out of the cartridges onto the printed media and therefore better quality images and HD image qualities where required.
We have put together a simple procedure to overcome this issue and have included a video below. We hope this helps. For those that want this cartridge fill/initialisation carried out for them, we can do this but would have to charge £10.00 at the time of ordering.
Video of How to Fill Refillable PGI550/CLI-551 Cartridges for the first time use.