Need advice on laser printer

Laura · Post by **Laura** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 9:02 pm

We just replaced our inkjet for an Okidata laser printer. It prints fine, but is causing the UPS unit to beep every 15 seconds, even when it is not printing, but just turned on. It seems to be causing an 8 volt drop in the power line, causing the UPS to beep, though it is not plugged into the unit itself. I don't know much about laser printers. Anyone know what might be causing this or ever heard of the problem?

We have contacted Okidata, but the tech guy on the phone had no idea and is going to have an engineer contact us.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 11:29 pm

If you really mean UPS and not surge suppressor, the first thing I'd do is take the laser printer off of the powered UPS port and move it to a non-backed-up port. Laser printers can pull an enormous amount of power when they warm up and while printing, and if your power goes out, do you really want to be wasting precious power on an idle printer?

Laura · Post by **Laura** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 1:01 am

Yes it is a UPS unit, but the printer is not plugged in to it. I agree, you don't want to use it for a printer. I'm beginning to think that it is typical for a laser printer to pull a lot of power but I am surprised that it keeps doing it in 15 second intervals when it is not printing.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 1:28 am

Laura wrote:Yes it is a UPS unit, but the printer is not plugged in to it. I agree, you don't want to use it for a printer. I'm beginning to think that it is typical for a laser printer to pull a lot of power but I am surprised that it keeps doing it in 15 second intervals when it is not printing.

Yes, laser printers pull amazing amounts of power.

Even the Surge protected jacks in a UPS are rated for a certain amount. You want to make sure it is plugged into a high rated surge connection near the wall. I have also heard of some laser printers having lots of problems when not connected to a receptacle rated for sufficient amounts of current.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 4:27 am

Technically speaking, the Okidata's are NOT true laser printers, but rather LED printers. Instead of a true laser generator, I think they use laser diodes, which is supposed to draw a lot less power.

Still, don't connect printer to UPS. it doesn't need it at all.

Laura · Post by **Laura** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 3:28 pm

Thanks for the information. The problem of the continual beeping has been solved by unplugging from a power strip with surge protection and plugging directly into the wall. There is still the original beep on starting up, but that is to be expected from what I've learned. The engineer at Okidata called and was very helpful. I guess if you have problems with a printer, they will ship another by air express in two days and pay for shipping the defective printer back in that box.

AlleyCat · Post by **AlleyCat** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 10:31 pm

I thought that you were not supposed to hook printers up to surge protectors? I use APC and I recall reading that in the instructions.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 10:47 pm

AlleyCat wrote:I thought that you were not supposed to hook printers up to surge protectors? I use APC and I recall reading that in the instructions.

You can as long as the surge protector is sufficiently rated. Ink jets are typically not a problem and often have external pwr supplies.