Portable printers?

[PaulJ]

There have been lots of postings about Laptops, that decision has now been made and Santa is bringing me a nice little Toshiba. However I think it would be nice to have a hard copy of some things, do people use printers on boats? If so, which make/model survives best?

 

[Ships_Cat]

I use a laser printer run off the boat's modified sine wave inverter. They are bulkier than a portable inkjet but both the quality of the output and their robustness of construction is vastly superior. They are also alot cheaper to run.

I have run two different HP printers to date with no problems. They are rated at 3-400 watts but the demand is only of short duration.

John

 

[Talbot]

Do you have any problems with paperfeed, as a lot of printers (especially lasers) dont like damp paper. If ever there was a high probability of damp paper, then the boat is a strong contender.

Ink jet uses less power, and some could be run on a DC/DC converter, but inkjet printing disolves nicely in water. Must look for a small footprint, low powered laser.

 

[Ships_Cat]

Hi Mark

No I have never had a problem with the paper being damp and that included a period when we lived on board for around 9 months. That was back some years with an HPIIIP and that lived on board then.

I am not sure what the lowest powered laser is but the one I currently use is a HP1100A (now discontinued I think) which is rated at 1.5 A 220/230v. I usually only take that on board now if needed when we are away for 3-4 weeks or more and needed for working.

I have not checked this, but it is possible when the page starts printing that there is a peak start up draw when it turns the fusing, paper feed, etc which exceeds the stated current rating. However I would not imagine it would be greater than a reasonable inverter rated at the stated current draw plus a normal comfort margin could provide. Maybe someone knows.

In our half a boat they need to be restrained, so it normally just sits in a narrow aft pilot berth where there is little motion and it cannot go anywhere. I just have a long parallel cable running behind the panelling back to it.

John

 

[snowleopard]

i have a neat little canon inkjet about the size of a hardback book. it has a colour cartridge option and feeds paper reliably. it has been on board for 3 years now. it's excellent for printing weather faxes etc. i run it and the laptop off a 300w inverter.

 

[steveh]

I use a Canon BJC85 portable bubblejet. It connects via infared and has a rechargable battery so no need for cables. Print quality is very good. Got it cheap off ebay!

 

[Robin]

We use (rarely it has to be said) a HP 3420 on board via the inverter. The 12v printers available (Canon and HP) are both >£200 and pretty basic, our HP3420 was under £50 2 years ago and works fine. OK it is ink jet not laser but our boat doesn't leak and I print at the chart table not in the shower so it is fine, no problem of runny ink any more than on any of the papers we carry on board many of which will also have been ink jet printed.

 

[Talbot]

Thank you all for your input

 

[trouville]

I had a Cannon BJC85 which is 12v! but the joint sealling the ink cartreges have given up,now it prints one page sometimes(im trying to use up the ink! The 80i and HP 85?? both cost £150 !!!
Ive used an HP5550 cost £30 uses the same ink catriges as the smaller printer and runs off my 450 watt inverter. Never had any problems with it even lets "humid"paper through!!

 

[jerryat]

Hi Paulj!

Sounds like we use exactly the same model as Snowleopard. It's a fabulous piece of kit in our opinion. We've had ours on-board during continuous cruising for over seven years with absolutely no problems. It uses next to no power and runs directly off the 12v system, so no lash-ups with inverters etc!! Paper storage has never been a problem, but then we've never had any water below. As precaution in case we do, the paper pack is kept in a re-sealable polythene bag.

Hope

 

[Abigail]

We use a Canon i70 which is 240v and does use cables - the i80 doesn't. It's tiny and very light which is great. Never had problems with paper getting damp through 1 1/2 british winters.

On ink, we refill the cartridges with ink using a syringe which saves a lot of money.

 

[PaulJ]

Thanks to everybody for taking the trouble to reply. This lot will form the basis of some serious homework.

Thanks again,

Paul.

 

[feef]

I use a BJC-55. Used it on my travels, but not in a damp boat.
Wire or IR connection. Can be used as a scanner with a 'scanner cartridge' (never tried this). Two years old -no problems to date. Small size, Big price.

 

[Oldhand]

I use A Canon BJC-85 bought second hand and power it from a small 150W inverter. Haven't had any problems with it, seems to handle damp paper just fine but then I only feed single sheets.

 

[trouville]

Ive lost the site that listed the number of beeps the bjc-85 makes to the problems its haveing, its not canon ijust wonder if you know it? By moving my cartriges on the slide i get 3 beeps or 4 and sometimes five. Just now iprinted a page the second got 3beeps.
Not the best time to try it but we had very good wine indeed and no proof poision whisky nor brandy--soa bit past it but stillfunction

 

[ashley]

error codes

Canon BJ-85 error codes

 

[trouville]

Re: error codes

Great! now i see again i have print head problem!I bought it from a "apple"shop--every thing from apples just rubbish, Im now wondering if i ought to buy another bjc 85 second hand--but not from an apple shop.

Happy new year and good sailing in the new year

 

[Melody]

I second this - have used a BJC85 on board for four years - no cables no problems except it can be hard to buy cartridges in some places, and they 'go off' if you keep them too long. Have now sourced online supply.

 

[trouville]

my bjc85 is just beside me with a head problem,im about to open it to see if i can prevent the head over travelling. If not i will have to find another.
Benifits: Inxepensive around £50 s/h.;Runs on 12v ; Cartriges come in packs of 3, my current HP full size while being a super printer tends to dry the ink in summer,costing more then than the canon, as a rule i always have indate sealed ink packets and can always print, other printers single cartridges are just to expensive to let dry out.and store two or three cartridges.Aboard i print less than on land makeing the small canon cartriges more practical one set(one colour one B/W) prints about 150 copies (450 per box of three)thought the last prints are a bit thin.
Now im looking at a mini mac if i put that in a sealed plexiglass box with silica gel and port replicators and use a smallflat screen tv as a screen i can have a reall boat proof system for less than £500!!!
This year im going to move from my 12ton Hillyard to a 2ton Folkboat?? space will be limmited so what better than a canon and apple? Now im off to see if theres any soft ware for apple yet