Citizen Printer

Will my Epson inkjet printer use the colour cartridges to produce black ink when the black cartridge runs low?

I have an Epson BX300F printer/copier/fax and the black ink indicator has been at its lowest point for a week but still prints. The colour indicators seem to be slowly going down but I'm not sure if that's because I've been printing colour. I'm just wondering whether to replace the black ink cartridge even though it isn't telling me to because it's a lot cheaper than having my colours used up if that's what it is doing!

Public Comments

1. color ink does not have black ink in it so no its not drawing black in from the color cartidge
2. No it will not use colours to make black. When the black cartridge runs out it will not print and miss out details , do lines , go grey etc. You will know , you can always print a test page and if the quality is ok keep using the old cartridge. Do not change the cartridges until they are empty.
3. Here's what i found for my printer which is an SX100 it probably applies to yours as well EPSON Printing Scanning Appendix Home > Printing > Replacing Ink Cartridges Conserving Black Ink When the Cartridge Is Low (For Windows Only) The window below appears when black ink runs low and there is more color ink than black ink. It appears only when plain papers is selected as the paper type, and Text is selected as the Quality Option. The window gives you the option to either continue using black ink normally or conserve black ink by using a mixture of color inks to create black. Click the Yes button to use a mixture of color inks to create black. You will see the same window the next time you print a similar job. Click the No button to continue using the remaining black ink for the job you are printing. You will see the same window the next time you print a similar job, and again have the option to conserve black ink. Click Disable this feature to continue using the remaining black ink. Home Contents Index Help (NPD3805P-02)
4. It will use the colors regardless of what you are doing. Your printer is not making composite black, it is underlaying color to darken the black. When you are finally out of black, the printer will stop working. You should have a replacement on hand, it will just stop working very soon.