I know I said I did not intend testing the 480 hour timer.  However, it was an itch that needed to be scratched.  Not so much to know the value of the timer or even the volume of ink purged.  I really wanted to know what happens if the 480 hour timer expires and a normal manual purge is performed before a print job is sent to the printer.  Could we fool the system into ignoring the 480 hour timer, which results in a deep purge, by simply doing a medium level manual purge?

Unfortunately the answer is; “No”.  If the 480 hour timer has expired, and a normal purge is requested, the printer actually does a deep purge and resets the purge timer.

Before I started these long duration tests I rechecked my recollection of the Canon Pro 100S printer manual, which states on page 268:
“We recommend you use the printer at least once a month”

What I do is print what ever I have ready in the period before the 120 hour purge timer expires, which means there will be no purge for these prints.  I then hold any further prints until I am ready to accept the pending purge.  So my first test was to test that the 480 Hr timer did exist and how much ink was purged.  This period started on 23rd Aug and ended on 12th Sept.  Hence I was able to print until 28th Aug without initiating a purge.  The period of time without printing was 15 days, well under the month recommended by Canon.  I concluded the test period in my usual way, by sending a page feed to the printer to force the purge and then did a Nozzle Check

My second test period was from 12th Sept until 4th Oct.  ie.  22 days.  This time the period without printing was 17 days.  Again, very safe.  This time I concluded the test period with a “Normal Manual Clean” followed by a Nozzle Check.

Both Nozzle Checks were fine.

Of course I weighed the cartridges before and after each purge.

The fist test gave a total purge of 3.63g or an average of 0.45g per cart.
The second test gave a total purge of 3.49g or an average of 0.44g per cart.

I have updated the SDLs and also uploaded the latest ink usage spreadsheet.

Here is a summary of the Pro-100S cleaning modes and amount of ink purged.  The values have been rounded up, to give one decimal place:

1.   Timer 1 cleaning (ie. 120 hours):  Total ink purged, both groups at once = 1.8g
2.   Timer 2 cleaning (ie 480 hours): Total ink purged, both groups at once = 3.6g
3.   Manual Clean: Total ink purged, both groups at once  = 2.2g
4.   Deep (Manual) Clean: Total ink purged, both groups at once  = 3.6g
5.   Ink Tank Replacement: Total ink purged, both groups at once = 2.2g

There are other modes, but they tend to be rare. (eg. replace a printhead)

As mentioned in a previous post, a single group purge is less efficient than purging both groups at once.

For item 5, any one of the ink carts in a group need to be out of the printer for 60s or longer, since the last purge, to initiate the new purge.  You may think that the 4 carts on the left of the printer represent one group but that is not the case.  Group 1 is: PC, M, Y, and PM.  Group 2 is: C, Blk, LGY and GY.  If you look under the printer cover you will see the carts from left to right are: M, PC, Y, Blk, GY, PM, LGY and C.

The labels I use in the SDLs for different levels of purge are: Low, Medium and High, and the action always refers to a group.  The test results indicate that the volume of ink purged across the 2 groups is evenly distributed.  Hence we can just halve the above figures to determine the ink purged in a group.  Consequently Low, Medium and High can now be defined as 0.9g, 1.1g and 1.8g respectively.  As stated in an earlier post, 1g can be assumed to be approximately 1ml.

I'm new to the Pixma Pro-100 - I have not even unboxed it yet. However, I have lots of experience with the Epson 1400 and 1430 printers, and I've read this post and seen many of Jose Rodriquez' videos. I have some questions about all this concern over the head cleaning cycles in this printer.

I understand the idea of the printer doing a cleaning every 120 or 480 hours, but is this based on OPERATIONAL hours? If the machine is off for a week, how many hours does that count for? With the Epsons, I've always assumed that it does a cleaning every time you turn it on - at least that is what it sounds like each time it is powered up. If the printer does a cleaning every time it is turned on, I would assume it would be better to just always leave it on and let it do its cleanings as necessary unless you don't print for days on end. However, if the printer caps the head and does not do a cleaning on power up, it would be better to shut it down after each use. What is recommended?

I've also seen reference to the Qimage software for tracking cleanings and, presumably, for doing single channel cleanings. Is this software recommended with the Pro-100? I have a number of final print techniques that I have developed with the Epson printers and have never felt the need for additional software. Does Qimage have a freeware version with just printer utility and logging features?

Pappa O, the 120 hour and 480 hour timers are not based on operational hours.  It is the actual accumulation of time since the last clean cycle, regardless of whether the printer is turned off or on.
So, if the printer did a cleaning cycle today and the printer was then turned off for say 6 days, it would make some noises when turned on but that is not a defined cleaning cycle.  It may use a few drops, but it's very small in comparison to a clean.  If you then did a print, before that print commences the clean cycle would start, which in this case would be the 120 hour purge (ie more than 120 hours but less than 480 hours since the last purge).  From the testing I have done, I have not seen a great deal of difference between turning the printer off when not in use compared to leaving it on, so I tend to just leave it on, since the power consumption is very low.
For me, I like to know how it works so I can organise my printing accordingly and minimise waste ink, especially since I still use OEM ink.  My previous printer was a Pro9000 and it would frustrate the heck out of me when it seemed to do a purge at very regular intervals and went through ink at an alarming rate.  I did not understand how the purge cycles worked in those days, and one mistake I made was to unplug the printer when I refilled the ink (there is a 10 min timer that causes the head to return to the home position). Unplugging the power would have resulted in a deep purge every time I filled ink and I tended to only fill the ink carts that were getting low, resulting in more frequent deep purges. To be clear, the Pro 100 does use a small amount of power when turned off at the machine. The timers probably can't run if power is turned off at the mains, so It probably resets the timers and assumes a deep purge is required. The Pro 100 clearly does not need to purge every 120 hours, so a more economical option, if you don't need to print regularly, is to do your printing in the window of time prior to the 120 hour timer expire and then not print until just prior to the 480 hour timer expiring.

My Pro-100 has been on PC inks since I emptied the first set of OEM's.  You may get some inky fingers the first couple times you refill but it's pretty much no hassle.  I just open the top cover and when the head goes center, I unplug it and refill all 8 carts whenever one in the batch goes empty.  There are people who tell you that you need two sets of carts and that you shouldn't leave the head parked center while you refill... but I've never had a problem.  I don't see the need for two sets of carts when, if you have two sets, you'd be refilling one set anyway and shelving them until the next time.  When you get used to it, you can refill (or top off) all 8 carts in about 30 minutes or less.

From my own experience, the most important tip (that I wish I had when starting PC ink refills) is to tip the cart to the needle, not the needle to the cart.  That is, if you keep the cart upright and tip the bottle with the needle on it upside down and then insert into the hole, it almost always creates a bubble at the hole because a drop of ink will leak out of the needle as you tip the bottle.  Then when you start filling, ink bubbles out everywhere.  Instead, tip the (already reset and) empty or partially empty cart on its side (but not far enough so ink leaks out) and then you can tip the ink bottle less than 90 degrees to the side and insert the needle while it is still dry and nothing is dripping out.  Then tip the whole deal (cart and ink bottle) vertical after the needle is already inserted into the hole and only then squeeze the bottle.  That process prevents the ink bubbling at the hole as you try to fill the cart.

Mike

I just use my PRO-100 and feed it factory ink when needed. I don't actually print that much so it can go quite a long time between power-ups. Is the ink usage really in grams? That seems like a lot and you'd need a really big internal sponge after a while to hold it all.

CHoffman, yes the quantities are in grams, which also happens to closely match the ml value.  However, don't forget this is across all 8 cartridges.  So per cartridges it's about 0.24g or 0.24ml.
Sorry for the slow reply, I did not get an email advising there had been a reply on this topic.
By the way, you say; " it can go quite a long time between power-ups".  Canon recommend you use the printer once a month.  I have gone for 5 or 6 weeks without printing, but it is probably getting risky to go beyond 2 months.  I have never had a printhead blockage on my Pro 100S, which is a first for me, having used a number of different printers, both Canon and Epson.