HP Printer Ink Expiration & Warranty Date Secret Decoder Ring

As far as I can tell from googling like crazy, here are the six HP printer
ink relevant dates. Note that most people throw away the ink cartridge upon
the first (false) expiration date. Only those who read the google record
know that first end-of-service date can be overcome, giving the user an
additional year or two of useful service.

I post this by way of peer review so that the experts can correct where I
make any mistake.

1. Manufacture date = date printed on ink cartridge minus 30 months
2. Installation date = hand written on ink cartridge when first installed
3. Install-by date = manufacture date plus 18 months
4. Warranty expiration date = printed on the ink tank in YYYY/MM/DD format
5. End-of-service date = installation date plus 30 months
6. Expiration date = warranty expiration date + 24 months

> As far as I can tell from googling like crazy, here are the six HP printer
> ink relevant dates.

Here are some true-to-life values based on my purchase today of the $55 +
tax Costco #716128 "Triple pack" of three #14 black C5011D cartridges.

I tried to read the expiration date on the individual boxex inside the
blister pack but HP cleverly packaged the three pack with the dates hidden.

Much to my chagrin, these expensive Costco HP #14 26ml C5011DN black ink
cartridges were manufactured way back in 2004 based on my claculations as
shown below.
- DATE PRINTED ON BOX = SINGAPORE FEB 2007
- DATE PRINTED ON CARTRIDGE = 2007/05/12
- DERIVED MANUFACTURE DATE = NOV 12, 2004
- DERIVED EXPIRATION DATE = MAY 12, 2009
- INSTALLATION DATE = JUN 12, 2006
- DERIVED IN-SERVICE EXPIRY = DEC 12, 2008

There are apparently (at least) four different expiration events, any one
of which is designed to kill printing even if the HP ink cartridge is full
of high quality ink.

FIRST EXPIRATION EVENT:
The first HP expiration event occurs when the HP OfficeJet D145 determines
that the number of ink drops is equal to the amount of ink HP initially put
in the #14 ink cartridge (either 23 ml for the c5011a or 26 ml for the
c5011d both of which look exactly the same to the consumer).
This date can easily be overridden by pressing the proper sequence to tell
the HP D145 Office Jet printer to not count ink drops.

SECOND EXPIRATION EVENT:
The second HP expiration event occurs when the HP ink cartridge is in the
printer past 30 months after it was first installed (even if it was never
used since that first-installation date). The only known way to overcome
this false expiration date is to short the CMOS battery in the HP Office
Jet D145 printer - but the google record is sketchy as to whether this
approach works or not. One option is to give the cartridge to a friend who
can then use it in thier printer but I have not tested this approach.

THIRD EXPIRATION EVENT:
Apparently I ran into the third expiration event where the HP Office Jet
D145 printer apparently counts the number of times that the HP #14 ink
cartridge has been removed from & reinserted back into the printer. There
is no known method to overcome this third false expiration date. Even if
your cartridge is filled to the brim with pristine high quality ink, you
won't be able to print past this point using this printer (I suspect you
can print from a second printer though).

FOURTH EXPIRATION EVENT:
The fourth, and final expiration event is the true expiry date of the HP
#14 printer ink cartridge which is 24 months past the warranty expiration
date which itself is the date printed on the top of the HP #14 ink
cartridge in YYYY/MM/DD format. Even installing this HP ink cartridge in
another printer will not overcome this final expiration date from HP.

I post this for peer review so that the experts may check the veracity of
my statements above and correct where I make errors.

maryanne