I have an Epson Workforce ET-4550 printer that we only use every couple weeks, and thus the print head winds up needing cleaning when we need to use it.
I’ve also heard that the print head can become permanently clogged if left unused for a long periods.
So, is this possible (automating a page print every few days) with Home Assistant? The Epson integration only provides status and tank levels.
Most printers has a “print test page” in their settings (usually also in the web UI).
See if you can trigger this some how.
Fantastic advice. I discovered Epson has a print service, that creates an e-mail address directly to the printer. All I had to do is create an automation to fire off a Node-Red email with an attachment (since I couldn’t figure out how to send an attachment from HA)
I also use Home Assistant automation to perform printhead cleaning after 1 month of inactivity. I was able to do tgis using the IPP integration, CUPS Server and fingerbot to press the power button on the printer.
The IPP integration can track down if the printer is printing or idle, if its idle for 1 month, then the automation kicks in, send a http command to cups webserver to push a 2 jobs of printhead cleaning and turn off the printer after finishing the job.
Thers also a unrelated automation on the printer which turn on the printer after it detects that theres a print job on que, otherwise turns off once theres no more print job on que for 5 minutes.