Canon PG-545 and CL-546 printer cartridges

Launched in 2013, the Canon PG-545 and CL-546 cartridges are similar in design to their predecessors PG-540 and CL-541. Both cartridges are available in normal and XL versions. The built-in printing unit is called Canon Pixma MG 2450 and was only used in the Pixma MG 2450 and MG 2550 printers in the year of publication. As usual, other printers with extended or limited functions will certainly follow.
For the ink cartridges PG-545 and CL-546 we expect a product life cycle of about three years from the manufacturer Canon. The cartridges will then circulate on the market in about two more years in appreciable quantities for refillers and recyclers. In this respect, we consider this cartridge type to be relevant for our industry in terms of sales.

With the purchase of the printer, one receives, as usual, setup cartridges with a small filling quantity and a correspondingly small printing range. The larger XL cartridges can only be purchased later.

OEM designations, print ranges and original fill quantities

PG-545 (OEM 8287 B 001) Setup Printhead Cartridge black, 180 pages, 8ml Ink
PG-545 XL (OEM 8286 B 001) Printhead cartridge black, 400 pages, 15ml ink
CL-546 (OEM 8289 B 001) Setup Printhead cartridge color, 180 pages, 8ml ink
CL-546 XL (OEM 8288 B 001) Printhead cartridge color, 300 pages, 13ml ink

The differences of the Canon PG-545, CL-546 compared to their predecessors 510, 540 etc. can be found mainly in the area of the cartridge cover. The changes in the arrangement of the noses in the cartridge cover prevent the insertion of older cartridge models into newer printers or vice versa. If you remove the label of the black Setup cartridge, you will also see an innovation. Beneath it are evenly arranged pockets seven millimeters deep. These reduce the volume of the ink reservoir. Due to a lack of space in the setup cartridge, only smaller quantities of ink can be refilled. The positions of the contact pins of the cartridge electronics have also been changed. This is also to prevent cartridges from being used that are not intended by the manufacturer for the printer model.
Another major difference lies in the ink of the CL-546 color cartridge. While physical values such as viscosity and surface tension have remained unchanged, there are corrections in the color values of the color inks compared to their predecessors. For this reason, color inks were developed in our ink production laboratory that contain new color parameters and thus reflect the OEM's values. For the black ink, the compatibility of our pigment ink developed for the predecessors could be extended. No differences could be found here.