EQ-9800 & 9850 Humidity Check
Learn how to check ambient humidity on EQ-9800/9850 printers to prevent magenta tint or toner flaking and maintain quality prints.
Ambient humidity and temperature can greatly affect the printing process on the EQ-9800/9850 series printers. We recommend occasionally checking the humidity levels to ensure quality output. Why is this important?
Ideal humidity should be in the ballpark range of about 50%-70%. If the ambient humidity dips below 30%, which can sometimes happen in the cold winter months when the air is drier, then you may see a faint magenta cast on prints. This can be corrected by placing a humidifier next to the printer to get more moisture in the air or through other alternative means.
Conversely, if the humidity is too high, above 90%, then the toner will not lay down properly on the page, and it may flake off. This can be corrected through the use of a dehumidifier near the printer.
Checking this on an occasional basis can be a very beneficial part of maintaining a quality print output from the printer.
To check the humidity on the EQ-9800/9850, all you need to do is the following:
- Power down the printer if it is on already, or restart it if it is off.
- When powering up or restarting, press the UP, DOWN and HELP buttons simultaneously while it boots.
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- Once it boots up into the Maintenance Menu, scroll down to the option called Diagnostic Mode.
- Press Enter to select it.
- Press the BACK, UP, DOWN, and ENTER keys simultaneously. You will then see a screen that says initializing.
- Press up once or twice and you will then see ENV. at the top.
- On this screen, you will then see the humidity measured by percentage on the 2nd line.
- To get out of this menu, shut down the machine by using the power switch. **Note: This is the only time where it is safe to power the printer down by using the switch. Otherwise, it is better to press the "Shut Down/Restart" button on the front during normal operation.
- Once the machine has restarted, make any necessary adjustments to bring the humidity within the suggested levels.

