Remove & Transplant Chips for HP Instant Ink Cartridge 902 934 935 564 920 Video 2 Part 2

Today, I’ll go over how to use a third-party cartridge with the chip of an HP 902 cartridge. If you want a visual demonstration of how to transfer the chip over, I have a video for that on my YouTube channel. We’ve shown how to turn off the chip info in a previous video, so I won’t repeat that.

You may be wondering why someone would want to use a third-party cartridge over the original default that HP provides in the first place. There are two main reasons that I like using third-party cartridges. The first reason is that the dual-chamber design of the third-party cartridges can hold more ink than a startup cartridge could, and they’re also easier to refill when they eventually run out of ink.

The second reason is that they have a transparent casing. This allows me to see the ink levels easily, so I don’t have to estimate them. I can check them whenever I want. You can order blank cartridge bodies, if you don’t have them already, from my website, BCHTechnologies.com.

These cartridges are also available as a kit to give you everything you need to make the refill process easier. This kit includes the cartridges, orange cartridge clips, and a set of silicone washers. The orange cartridge clips are perfect for storing cartridges you aren’t using or holding during the refill process because they can minimize the amount of ink that comes from the cartridge.

Various Refill Methods

For some refill methods, we’ll be drilling a hole in part of the cartridge, which can throw off the pressure balance within. This can cause the ink to spill out of the bottom of the cartridge. While we won’t need the drill this time, the process may still cause a bit of ink to leak out. The orange cartridge clips cover the hole that the ink comes out of, preventing it from getting on your belongings and causing permanent stains.

The silicone washers aren’t necessarily intended as part of the refill process but are designed to help reinstall the cartridges. When you put the cartridges back into the printer, it’s a good idea to try and get the seal between the ink valve and the printer to be as air-tight as possible.

To use the silicone washers, install them on the cartridge carriage’s ink intake and press them gently to make sure they stay in place. These washers each have one long side and one short side. When you install them, the longer side should be facing away from you, and the shorter side should be facing toward you.

While neither of these tools is necessary, and the ink refilling and chip harvesting processes can both be done without them, they do make things a lot easier. If you don’t want them and want the blank cartridges, that’s fine too.

Third-Party Cartridges

While there are many benefits to using third-party cartridges, as I mentioned earlier, there is one thing you should be aware of. They don’t come with chips of their own. This is why I needed to explain and show you how to harvest the chips from old startup cartridges to use them with third-party cartridges by mounting them to your HP printer.

Once the chips are mounted in the printer, you shouldn’t have any problems with it failing to recognize that a cartridge is installed and should be able to use any that you put in it. Alternatively, you could force the printer to allow you to use a continuous ink system later on if you’d prefer. I also have a video on installing a continuous ink system in your HP printer on my YouTube channel.

You’ll have to make two cuts to remove the chip from the startup cartridge. The first cut you need to make is along the bottom seam of the cartridge. The second cut is right in front of the tab near the chip (on the side away from it, we want that part to still be attached to the piece of plastic the chip is on).

I recommend having the tool on a low speed. If the speed you use is too high, it can cause the plastic to start melting a little bit and interfere with the cuts you’re making. You should also write down which chip goes to which cartridge, as you’ll have to put them in the right spaces with the right cartridges when installing them, or else the printer will get confused. This part of the process will be the same for both the colored and black cartridges.

Check Inside the Cartridge

Inside the cartridge carriage, you should see four sets of four brass pins. These are the printer’s contact pins for the cartridges. They are what the printer uses to read the chips, so try to make sure they’re clean, or it may cause problems. For these contact pins to do their jobs, you must line them up with the chips’ plates. Each chip has a brass plate that essentially serves the same function as the contact pins. It relays the chip info to the printer as needed.

The chips’ plates and the printer’s contact pins must be lined up just right for the printer to read them properly. We want the tab to still be attached to the plastic piece. I put a piece of duct tape on the back side of the plastic the chip is mounted on (obviously not the side with the chip) so that it will be held firmly in place when I place it down. I recommend that you do the same.

Starting with the slot for the black ink cartridge’s chip, you should be able to see a little notch. We can use this in tandem with the plastic tab as a guide to properly line up the chip. When I installed the chip in the demonstration video and then tried to install the cartridge, I discovered that the chip piece was still too thick. I took everything back out, removed the duct tape, and ground the back of the plastic down a bit to make it thinner. If you do this, try to keep the surface as flat and level as possible. I did another test installation to see if I’d get the chip down to the proper thickness.

When installing everything and attempting to position and insert the cartridge, you should feel it click into place. If you press the cartridge’s tab and you don’t feel it click, your chip is too thick.

Repeat this process for all the other cartridges.

After installing all the washers, chips, and cartridges into your HP printer, there’s a chance you’ll get a pop-up message saying something along the lines of “Misinstalled cartridge. Remove and reinsert in the correct slot.” This almost always means a mix-up somewhere along the lines, and you accidentally installed one of the chips into the wrong spot. Fortunately, this pop-up should also indicate at the bottom which chips are the problem and need to be switched.

After all of this is done and you’ve been printing with this setup for a while, the ink will eventually run out. Since the chip info in your printer is probably off at this point, you’ll have to keep an eye on the ink levels yourself. Make sure to check them every once in a while (which is easy since the cartridge walls are transparent), and if the print quality starts declining, that may indicate that you either have a clog or need to refill them.

Although I have multiple videos on my YouTube channel about refilling these cartridges, I’ll give you a brief summary of the process here.

Don’t Forget the Orange

When you need to refill your cartridges, it’s a good idea to put them in the orange clips first. While this isn’t necessary, like I said before, it can minimize the number of ink drips onto your surfaces and belongings, which can easily stain them forever.

Tear off the yellow sticker on top of the cartridge. Underneath it, you’ll be able to see the refill hole. Remove the plug from the hole and use either an ink bottle designed for refilling or a syringe to inject ink into the rear chamber of the cartridge through it.

Through the clear cartridge walls, you should see the ink flow from the rear chamber into the sponge in the front chamber. If this doesn’t happen, then the air hole is likely blocked. You can open it up easily using a pin or something sort. Keep adding ink until the sponge and rear chamber are almost completely full, then put the refill plug back in. If everything has been done correctly, no ink should leak out of the bottom, and you should be able to reinstall the cartridge and go back to printing as much as you like.