AR-F152 toner lite steady... 3/4 full

[axyun]

Maintenance, developer and toner lites were all on when I got to customer's office. I was called for jamming and had to change upper fuser drive gear. Had drum , toner and developer with me so told customer I would do it while there at special rate.
The copies were dark gray and the toner symbol(triangle of dots) was on steady. Machine was working. Looks like on some machine a steady lite mean disables machine and chip is blown like ar201. On this one I guess opposite. I pulled plug and it was 3/4 full. Changed dv and drum unit.
Still steady toner lite with machine producing great copies. I neglected to check toner motor. Any idea on what it might probably be. If it were bad chip I assume machine would not be working. Toner sensor? Your wish is my command. Any help is very much appreciated and I will post results of course. Frank/ActionPhotocopy

P.S. Checked level thru keyboard + says LO though 3/4 full

[bilyahn]

Here's what Sharp has to say about this. Is this an OEM toner?

Good luck.

Bil

When investigating potential defective cartridges, the technician needs to perform the following procedure.

If the toner cartridge is not fully seated and the toner indictor is On , the toner motor will turn but not engage with the gears on the rear side of the toner cartridge. Check to make sure the Toner motor is turning (Sim. 10) and the gears on the toner cartridge are turning. (You can mark the gear with a marker or listen to the toner cartridge rotate).

Procedure to test if the toner cartridge is functioning properly.
Place a Sky Shot on the table glass and set the copy count for 99 copies. After 20 to 30 copies the add toner light will come on and the machine will stop making copies. The toner cartridge will cycle 7 or 8 times (approx. 2 minutes) and the start button will have the green light indicator on. The machine will be ready for copying and the toner cartridge has been successfully tested for adding toner.

If the add toner indicator is on and the machine does not cycle, the toner cartridge will not function. You must replace the toner cartridge. Sharp is currently investigating the DV Units that do not cycle with very low copy count.

If the machine is trying to add toner, the following items must be checked.

1. Is the toner motor rotating? (Check with Sim. 10)

2. Are the gears on the toner cartridge rotating? (Mark the gears with marker or white out).

3. Does the machine continue to cycle when the add toner light is flashing.

4. Is the toner light flashing or is on continually? If the light is flashing the unit is trying to add toner. If the light is solid (not flashing) the crum chip has expired life count and must be replaced.

5. The Toner Cartridge indicates to shake 4 or 5 times before installing.

[axyun]

Hi Bil .. Thanks for your info. I should have tested whether the toner gear was turning and whether the motor was running. I can go back and do that and take a cartridge with me, What is the model that the information you have listed above supposed to be for. The reason I ask is that in the operator manual for the AR-F152 it states that when the toner lite is steady it means that the cartridge will have to be changed soon. It says that if thelite is blinking then it has to be changed meaning machine is disabled. That is the opposite of the info in item #4.
I was surprised myself to see that in manual because I have usually seen what it says in item #4 . The operator manual must be right because the lite is steady and the machine is still running and just thinks the toner is low.
You would thing that a manufacturer would be smart enough to be more consistent with something like that instead of creating confusion. I don't know if it is an OEM cartridge as I did not examine it carefully and it was not obvious as some of the generics are. I will check when I go back. The print was dark gray when I got there so it is possible that the toner was not being added.
The thing is that the machine is supposed to know how much toner is in cartridge when you go thru a certain procedure. Is that because it has a way of knowing approximately how much toner is in the cartridge or is it going by # of copies made since cartridge was installed.
When I executed the procedure to see how much toner was in cartridge it said "LO". I checked the cartridge and is was 3/4 full which is far from low.
I'll post results when call is completed. Frank

[bilyahn]

It's a tech tip for the ARF152 on the old Sharpnet website. We only have one of these machines out there so not sure about the information. I know that from similar models that #4 is correct when you first start up the machine. The toner lite will flash as it tries to add toner then go solid if there is no toner or it has reached end of life. Maybe with the F version it is slightly different, not sure.

Good luck.

Bil

[axyun]

Returned to customer Thursday and changed chip on cartridge and toner lite went out. Frank