Epson 4900 Maintenance Tank Chip Resetter

My Epson Stylus Pro 4900

I have a love-hate relationship with my Epson Stylus Pro 4900. Yes, it produces amazing prints on un-ending choices of paper, however...she clogs.









One of the downsides of the clogging is how quickly part no. T619000, the waste/maintenance tank, fills up with wasted ink that I use to unclog the printer. Now T619000 isn't that expensive; $16.99 US last time I checked online. However, its a big hunk of plastic that seems like such a waste to have to dispose of. Why couldn't there be a way to re-use it and perhaps "save" the environment just a little by not ending up in the local landfill? Well now there is a way...

Chip Resetter

I found a place online that sells a chip resetter for the T619000. The cost is roughly four times more than the cost of a new tank but long-term this should save me both money and the environment.


Re-using your T619000 with the chip resetter is easy. The instructions with the resetter are very simple and you should follow them precisely.

The instructions state you need another new and empty (i.e. un-used) T619000. This is true so don't forget that part. Also the instructions say to make sure the tank you want to re-use with this process isn't past the point where your printer is giving you the warning to replace it. Once you go past that point, you won't be able to reset the chip using the chip resetter. When you go to reset the chip, if it flashes green, you are good. If it flashes red, either the chip is bad or it's past the point where it can be reset.


So using the chip resetter is easy, here are a few other quick tips about the process...


You'll have to do something Epson explicitly forbids you to do and its depicted clear-as-day on the waste ink tank...

Go ahead, be a rebel

You have to peel away the top seal and open this little guy up. The plastic/mylar-like top is glued on here very well but with a little effort and strength you should be able to peel it away without completely destroying it. Go ahead, open her up. I don't peel it completely off. This is so I can use it to close it back up later.

What you'll find inside is just a bunch of absorbent cotton-like material that should be some-what saturated with ink. Pull all of this out. Don't worry about cleaning the inside unless there is some ink pooling in the bottom. I've never seen this happen though.

This is all that is inside?

Replace the inside with your absorbent material of choice. I simply use a bunch of paper towels folded and bunched up nicely. Just get it all to fit inside snuggly and you'll be fine.

Paper towels

Now, if you didn't peel the original top all the way off, you can re-use that to close and seal the tank back up. I use packaging tape from a tape gun/roller to seal it back up. Don't worry, it doesn't have to be an airtight seal.

Tape it back together

Now you ready to reset the chip using the chip resetter. Remember, if it flashes green when its done, you are good-to-go. If it flashes red, you can't re-use this tank. Maybe its better if you do that first before opening the tank up and replacing the material inside just in case the reset does not work for you.


Remember to put a new, un-used T619000 into the printer first before putting in the tank you just reset. This is part of the process to "trick" the printer into thinking the tank you are re-using is also new and empty.


Once you put the re-used tank into the printer, it should show that its empty and ready for a fresh round of ink to waste!

Ready for more waste ink

I didn't wear gloves through this process so I got a little bit of ink on my hands. Not to worry though, it washes off with soap and water easily!

Ink on hand washes off easily