5100cn Imaging Drum Life

Question

Does anyone know why a 5100cn imaging drum would only last 20,000 pages instead of the spec's 35,000?

grcooperjr · Answer

Hi Spike6360....

The way it was explained to me is the life estimate is based on 5% coverage. I have two 5100cn’s and both drums were replaced at around 20 to 25k. I do mostly flyers with the printers running around 20 to 30% coverage….

I also checked with Xerox and HP to see what they said and they confirmed kinda of what Dell said…..

Ray Cooper

Spike 60 · Answer

Thanks for the info Ray. We just use it for regular word documents.  It does seem misleading that everyday documents use it up at twice the spec doesn't it? Cheers

grcooperjr · Answer

Hi Again

It does seem kinda strange. I dont know too many folks that print at 5% coverage. The toner use is another one thats a bit off. I avg. around 6k to a black cartage and around 4.5k to the color. Of course it does depend greatly on the volum of pictures I print, but it sure would be better if it was allitle closer to 9k for the black and 8k for the color...

Ray Cooper

snkemp · Answer

I have eight of these printers in action where I work, and they're used for everything from word documents to web pages to photoshop images. These machines are set up in labs on a large college campus, so we see a lot of use.   I've done tests, and the drums absolutely die out at around 44,500 pages. I schedule our drum replacements every 42,000 pages to give us some leeway. The listed lifespan of transfer rollers for a 5100cn is 35k, but I change mine at 55k (I've had one last for 61k before completely dying out in tests). Also of note: for each of these lifespans, there was no degradation in print quality.

Spike 60 · Answer

That sounds like really good news considering the price of the things.  So do you simply ignore the replace imaging drum warning?

Spike 60 · Answer

Yes the toner cartridges seem to run out before you expect too.  Still we do love the machine, its a vast improvement over the three machines it replaced!

snkemp · Answer

Yes, I ignore the warning, as it starts to whine probably about 10k pages before it needs to. It's not a bad thing, since it gives you time to order the supplies and have them arrive before the printer goes kaput. But for someone like myself that has supplies on hand already, it's unnecessary. It would also drive my costs up enormously if I replaced the kits as soon as the printer started to warn me about them, since we see a lot of use over our 6 locations. As it stands, I'm replacing kits about once a month during our slow times. Message Edited by snkemp on 05-05-200601:05 PM

Spike 60 · Answer

Great, thanks for the advice.  We always do keep some supplies on the shelf but it'll be great to avoid using it up early. Cheers

RPLines · Answer

Hi All,
Would anybody, or has anybody, been privy to the operator panel button sequence that will reset the engine count so the Imaging Drum error can be defeated? As others stated, they simply ignore the error and use that time to order new parts/drum. In this case, the printer is still printing just fine, but the users would like for the error to be gone. I will know when it's time to change the drum, so if anyone knows the procedure, could you please reply? It would also help with customer relations if the tech could come out and resolve this error without demanding they waste/install another drum unit whenever the one is working fine. Thanks for your time.

Printers

5100cn Imaging Drum Life

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