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The ink for the cartridge is pigment and water soluble. How to distinguish water-based ink from pigment ink

Black HP 123 and 652 belong to the category of cartridges with an integrated print head, which are used in the budget printers DeskJet 2130, 2630, 3639, Ink Advantage 3635, 4535, 2135, 1115, 3775, 3785, 3835, 5075, 4675, 5275, 378 7 s two inkwells. As a rule, cartridges with the same number use a specific type of ink and do not change after that, however, with 123 and 652, everything is not so simple.

What is the problem?

There are 2 fundamentally different types of ink: pigment and water. In short, water ones are better to use for photographs, they spread if you drop water on them, while pigment ones are more stable and are great for texts and various documentation.

After the sale of 123 and 652 cartridges, the manufacturer's website indicated that they contained aqueous ink, but in 2017 everything changed and, according to information from the official website, the black cartridge is filled with pigment ink, and the color cartridge is filled with water. It is not entirely clear whether there was an error in the description, or whether the type of ink was indeed suddenly changed.

If water black really did become pigmented at some point, then there is a possibility that the old batches of 123 and 652 cartridges are still on sale and filled with a different type of ink. And since this is not indicated on the packaging in any way, it will not work and find out in advance which ink needs to be refilled.

What to do?

The best way to use compatible inks in dual-cartridge printers is to manually refill originals. It turns out that you will have to deal with branded HP ink tanks anyway.

To find out what type of ink is used in a black cartridge, simply print a black and white image with the settings for text (it is important not to turn off the settings for photo printing so that black is not achieved by mixing colored water-based inks). After that, it is enough to drop water on the shaded area: pigment ink do not erode, but water ones will begin to be lubricated (that's why they are called water-soluble).

IMPORTANT! If you still could not determine what type of ink is in the cartridge or just the ink has already run out and the printer refuses to print, it is better to opt for water black. It is safer for the print head of the cartridge.

By determining the type of ink in the black cartridge, you can select the appropriate ink set:

  • Pushkink PIH94.100×4 is a budget set of Russian water black inks. Convenient for its versatility, because the Pushkins make water-based ink in such a way that they can also be used in pigment cartridges. In our opinion, the print quality is not the highest, so it is not very profitable to use them for printing photos.
  • InkTec H7064-100M-4 - Korean water black ink set. Since the release of the DesignJet 2130 in mid-2015, it has been marketed as compatible and has not caused user complaints. The use of aqueous ink in a pigment cartridge is acceptable in this case (but only for 123 and 652, since each case is individual and we do not recommend experimenting!).
  • InkTec H7064-100M-4.BP is a set of Korean inks with pigment black, which went on sale as soon as it became known about the change in the type of dye in HP cartridges. If you are sure that you have a new pigment ink cartridge, we recommend choosing it.
  • OCP BKP 225, C/M/Y 163 - relatively expensive German ink with pigment black.

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Water-based and pigmented inks have different chemical compositions, so mixing them can cause ink curing, sludge, and clogged print head nozzles. To prevent this from happening, do not fill water ink into a cartridge that contains pigment ink, and vice versa. If you don't know what type your ink is, run a series of simple experiments that will make it easy to recognize the type of your ink.

So let's get started.

Conduct a series of simple experiments

Experiment #1

Drop ink jet ink onto a sheet of paper and carefully examine the drops. Water ink has a transparent structure and rich color. Pigment ink by its nature is an opaque suspension, the microparticles of which do not transmit sunlight. Such ink is externally darker than water ink.

Experiment #2

Smear a drop of inkjet on the paper and watch how quickly the print dries, then look closely at its surface. Water-based ink dries for a long time, after drying it forms a smooth film. Pigment ink dries very quickly, and their trace acquires a rough crystalline surface.

Water and pigment inks dry differently.

Experiment #3

Drop inkjet ink into a glass filled with water. Pigment ink, when dissolved, will give a gray tint, and water-based ink will give a dirty purple.

Experiment #4

Dilute a drop of ink in 10 ml of water, add 5 drops of bleach to the resulting mixture and carefully watch the reaction: the aqueous ink mixture will instantly discolor, and the pigment ink mixture will precipitate or not react at all to the presence of bleach.

Add bleach to a drop of ink and watch the reaction

Experiment #5

Print the text, wait for the print to dry completely and place it under cold running water. Water-based ink will bleed instantly, but pigment ink will not.

Experiment #6

Soak a sheet of printed text or an image in water for several hours. If in a few hours the print is completely washed off from ink, then you are dealing with water-based ink, if there are traces of ink on the print, then this is pigment or water-based quick-drying ink.

Soak the printed paper in water for a few hours

Experiment #7

If, as a result of the previous experiment, the print did not spread, then it was made using pigment or quick-drying water-based inks. To determine what type of inkjet you are still dealing with, add ammonia, household (not food) soda, or silicate glue to the water in which the print “floats”. If the print is dripping, then you have quick-drying water-based ink, if it doesn’t drip, then it’s pigment ink.

Pigmented and water soluble. Ink for inkjet printers.

Most often, when choosing a device for printing at home, preference is given to inkjet printers or inkjet MFPs. These devices use special inks, which, when mixed, allow you to create fairly high-quality prints. It is clear that not only the quality of printing, but also the durability of the printer depends on the quality of the ink.

Pigment and water-soluble inks

The first ink used for inkjet printing was water-soluble. They are a dye dissolved in a liquid. The advantage of these inks is their low cost, but the prints obtained with their help do not differ in quality. It often happens that the picture is “blurred”, this is especially noticeable when using cheap paper. In addition, copies are extremely short-lived, they quickly fade.

Trying to satisfy all the growing needs for inexpensive, but high-quality printing, HP specialists have created a fundamentally new type of inkjet ink, the so-called pigment ink. Their main difference is a special dye. Synthetic pigments act as such. They do not dissolve in a liquid, like an ordinary dye, but are contained in it in a suspended state.

Unlike ordinary ink, in which the paint is absorbed into the paper along with the liquid, the pigment settles on its surface, sticks to it, moreover, exactly in the place where the color dot is supposed to be.

The composition of the ink is selected in such a way that the particle that sticks to the paper is securely fixed on it. This ensures that the print will be contrasting for a long time, the color is bright and juicy. And given the fact that the size of one pigment is negligible, it does not exceed 0.15 microns, the quality of inkjet printing increases many times over. It is safe to say that inkjet printing using pigment inks is approaching laser printers in terms of clarity and contrast.

An additional plus is that printing with this type of ink is possible on paper of any quality. The print will look great both on office paper and on a cheap envelope.

The development of a new type of ink was hampered by the need to stabilize the suspension. It was necessary to prevent the pigment particles from sticking together and not settling to the bottom of the cartridges. These phenomena are known as adsorption and sedimentation. In order to achieve a good result, chemical stabilizers were introduced into the composition of the ink.

The range of pigment inks available for sale is very wide. Even inks are produced that have water-resistant properties that ordinary water-soluble inks certainly cannot have.

Of course, the production process of pigment ink is much more complicated than the production of conventional ink, their price is higher, but the quality is noticeably higher. To keep the price down, some manufacturers offer a mixed version. These are ordinary water-soluble inks, into which a certain percentage of pigments is introduced. The inks are cheaper, but do not have all the properties that are present in real pigment inks. They are not resistant to water, prints quickly fade.

But not everything is so rosy, pigment ink also has disadvantages.

1. It is not advisable to use them for printing official documents. Due to the fact that the pigment only sticks to the surface of the paper, it can be scraped off with any sharp object.

2. For the same reason, film printing is not possible. Particles practically do not stick to its even, smooth surface.

3. The use of these inks is bad for the life of the printheads. This is due to the abrasive properties of suspended particles.

Printing sample with water ink.

Printing sample in pigment ink.

A sample of printing with water-based ink and pigment on photo paper. On the left, water, and on the right, pigmented.

Correct - a guarantee of long-term operation of the cartridge

Many of those who use inkjet printers have experienced problems. Sometimes, recently filled with expensive ink, the device refuses to work. The printer does not print, or stops after printing multiple sheets. The problem can be solved only by replacing the cartridge. Most often, ink manufacturers are accused of poor product quality, but the reason may not be in them.

Perhaps many do not know this, but the cartridges used in the devices of most leading manufacturers were not originally designed for refilling. Manufacturers deliberately reduce the price of the printer, hoping to make money on the sale of original cartridges.

That is why cartridges are very sensitive to mishandling. They break easily, therefore, when refilling an inkjet cartridge, you need to be extremely careful. This is especially true for filling with a syringe. This procedure is very responsible, in no case should you rush. Do not press hard on the plunger of the syringe. The pressure must be minimal.

Cleaning should not be neglected either. This step can only be skipped if the cartridge was refilled with regular ink and will be refilled with regular ink as well.

Like ink, cleaning fluid is also subject to high requirements. There are many manufacturers on the market, it is often difficult to choose the best among them. Here it is worth conducting an experiment, drop ink on the glass, let it dry and place the glass in a cleaning liquid. A good liquid will dissolve the ink and color itself, a bad one will peel off the ink, they will float in flakes in it.

You can sum it up. The use of good ink will certainly please you with high-quality prints, but only if no gross errors were made at the refilling stage. Carelessness in relation to a refillable cartridge may lead to the need to purchase a new one.

How to visually distinguish photo ink (water-soluble) from pigment ink?

Our clients often ask us:

  • What is the difference between pigment and water inks?
  • How do you know what kind of ink you have?
  • Is it true that water-soluble ink is washed off with water, but pigment ink is not?

We have collected the most popular questions and decided to answer them and post them on our website. We hope that this article will be useful for you! If after reading you still have questions - you can always ask them in any way convenient for you:

1. How to distinguish water ink from pigment ink?

We will not delve into the wilds and describe the differences in the chemical composition of pigment and water-based inks, we will only say that pigment inks have larger particles compared to water-soluble inks. As a result, water-soluble ones can be poured instead of pigment, but there is no pigment instead of water-soluble ones, because. larger particles will simply clog the print head of your printer.

So, how to understand what kind of pigment or water ink is in front of you, and also for which printer they are intended

A) The simplest thing is according to the labeling on the bottle.

For example, in Korean InkTec ink, the marking can be found on the label under the inscription Reorder#.

The letters in the marking indicate the manufacturer of the printing device:

  • B-Brother
  • C - Canon
  • E - Epson
  • H-HP
  • L-Lexmark


The number after the letter is directly a series of ink. It is the series that indicates the compatibility of ink with your cartridges and print head, therefore it is a rather important parameter when choosing ink. (See pic 1 and 2)

Rice. 1 - marking of water-soluble ink for Epson printers



Rice. 2 - marking pigment ink for Epson printers


Also, manufacturers usually indicate on pigment ink bottles “ Pigment”(see fig. 3)


Rice. 3 - pigment ink for Epson printers
B) By appearance ink.
But it is not always possible to see the marking, because. the empty jar was disposed of as unnecessary, but somehow they didn’t think about the labeling. In this case, you can determine only the pigment ink you have filled in or the water ink by the color of the ink.
Most of all, the difference is visible in yellow, and we recommend that you determine the type of ink from it.
Water-soluble yellow is darker and more like orange-brown (see Fig. 4 - top), in contrast to pigmented yellow, which has a rich lemon yellow tint. (See Fig.4- bottom)
Also, due to the different chemical composition, the ink has different fluidity, which is also a characteristic feature when determining the type of ink. Pigment ink is thicker and, after shaking the containers, flows off the walls of the cans (donor containers or cartridges) in uneven streams, leaving behind a lot of drops and streaks on the walls. Water-soluble ink flows off the walls in a single stream, leaving behind almost perfectly clean walls. (See Fig.4)


Rice. 4 - the difference in the color of water-soluble and pigment ink


B) printed on paper
In addition to the difference in the color of the original (i.e., in the bank), pigment and water-based inks differ in color reproduction on paper. When printed on plain office paper, water-soluble inks show duller colors than pigment inks, which result in brighter colors.

D) resistance to burnout
In addition to the above parameters, pigment and water-based inks also have different resistance to fading, while the pigment noticeably outperforms water-soluble inks. However, if you place a print made with water-soluble ink under glass, or a file. And it is even better to laminate, the quality of the print will remain bright and juicy several times longer.
We are currently testing the ink for fading. The first test results will be available in September 2015.

2. Which ink to choose pigment or water?
A) selection by printer model
The main factors that influence the choice of ink are the technical characteristics of the printer. Namely, the so-called minimum size drops", as well as the type of original ink. Information about technical specifications and the type of ink used can be found on the official websites of manufacturers.

B) according to the consumable on which they print

  • When printing on glossy surfaces, water-soluble inks should be selected. Because they leave a brighter and more saturated imprint on glossy surfaces. (Figure 5 bottom right)
  • Pigment ink is not absorbed into the gloss and lays down as a "film", and will also be erased from the surface under any mechanical action. (Figure 5, top right)
  • But when printing with water-soluble ink on matte surfaces, the image will be more faded. (Fig. 5. Bottom left)
  • However, when using pigment ink, good photos will be obtained when printed on matte paper. (Fig. 5 top left)


And remember, when switching from pigment ink to water ink and vice versa, it is necessary to clean the print head from the previous ink, and we also recommend that you completely replace the CISS or PZK! Otherwise, you risk damaging your printer.

We have tried to explain as clearly as possible.

Go in the comments to ask questions and share experiences!

Depending on the type of the latter, hp printer inks are divided into two main types:

Water-soluble - made on an organic dye that dissolves in water.

Pigmentary - on pigment dyes that are not soluble in water and form a suspension.

Often, users do not know which ink for hp is better, and cannot make a choice even on https://www.vseprintera.ru/ink-for-printer-hp/, where Consumables presented in a wide variety. To facilitate the task, you should know the features of the first and second options.

Water-based dyes

Such liquids have several important advantages:

Reproduce a bright, rich, colorful image;

Perfectly absorbed into paper;

They dry quickly (the print does not get dirty);

Allow to use any photo paper (matte, gloss, super gloss) and art paper;

They have a completely homogeneous consistency and easily penetrate the nozzles of the print head without clogging it.

The disadvantage of paints is that they spread on ordinary paper, especially if the sheet is damp or water gets on it. Therefore, it is not always possible to print fine details (lines, font, symbols, etc.) with high quality. In addition, prints fade quite quickly in the sun, so they need additional protection.

Pigment dyes

Pigment is colored solid particles of a very small size (less than 0.1 microns), due to which they freely pass through the nozzles of the head. HP pigment inks offer very high quality printing, comparable to laser. Their main advantages:

Water resistance (prints, even made on plain paper, do not spread under the influence of moisture);

The widest range of shades of colors, more realistic color reproduction, the accuracy of transmission of small fragments and lines;

UV resistant;

The ability to firmly fix on a matte surface.

The disadvantages include the relatively high cost. Also, if you want to buy pigment-based hp printer ink for printing on glossy media, it's not worth the risk. The pigment does not adhere well to such a coating and begins to crumble.

Before switching from pigment inks to water-soluble inks, it is necessary to thoroughly rinse the CISS head and ink tanks. When working with pigment liquids, you should especially carefully care for the equipment.

Both types of inks can be used in Hewlett-Packard devices: as a rule, water-soluble inks for printing color material, pigment inks for black-and-white documents. But mixing them is not recommended. In general, inks for refilling hp cartridges are selected based on the tasks that you want to perform.

Summing up

As practice shows, water-soluble inks for hp cartridges are excellent for photo printing (even professional ones) and for home use. If you need to create high-quality matte photographs, as well as tables, diagrams, drawings and other products for which accuracy and detail are important, use pigment paints.