SKU:

HEWCE285A-MCR

Printer Brand:

Hewlett Packard

OEM Number:

CE285A

Ink Color:

Black

Page Yield:

1,600 Pages

Printer Type:

Laser Cartridge

Condition:

OEM/Original

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes this MICR cartridge different from a regular black one?

The toner itself. MICR — Magnetic Ink Character Recognition — toner contains iron oxide, which makes the characters printed along the bottom of a check readable by the magnetic scanners banks use to sort and process them. The cartridge is the standard CE285A shape for this compact platform, rated at 1,600 pages; only the toner formulation inside is different.

Can I print ordinary documents with it as well?

Yes — it prints letters, invoices and forms like any black cartridge, and many small offices simply leave it in a machine such as the LaserJet M1132 and print everything from it. Others dedicate one printer to checks so plain and MICR toner never get swapped back and forth. Either routine works; keeping the MICR unit in place is the safer habit if checks are printed often.

Will my bank accept checks printed with this cartridge?

No cartridge can promise that, and you should be wary of any that does. Acceptance depends on your bank's reading equipment, the check stock, the MICR line's position and the signal strength of the print — several of those sit outside the cartridge. The sensible routine: print a small test batch first and have your bank run it through their reader before you commit to a full check run.

The MICR line on my checks keeps landing in the wrong place. Is that the cartridge?

Almost certainly not. The position of the routing and account line is set by your accounting or check-printing software's template and by how the check stock feeds — the cartridge only supplies the toner. Adjust the template margins, confirm the stock is loaded in the orientation your software expects, and re-test with a few sheets before printing a numbered run.

Which printers does it go in?

The same compact machines that take the standard CE285A: the P1102 and P1102W, the M1132 and M1212nf class, and their Pro-badged versions. These small desktop printers are a popular choice for check printing precisely because they are cheap to dedicate to the job. If your printer's regular cartridge is a CE285A, this MICR version fits the same bay.

What cover does a MICR cartridge carry?

The same as the rest of the compatible range: a 1-year warranty and 1-year free returns under our shipping and returns policy, support Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM CST, and dispatch from our warehouses in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia and California.

About This CE285A MICR Black Toner Cartridge

A check-printing version of the familiar CE285A: same compact cartridge, same 1,600-page rating, priced at $26.75 — but filled with magnetic MICR toner so the encoded line on your checks can be machine-read. It is part of the HP compatible range and serves the small LaserJet platform that countless payroll and accounts-payable desks already own.

Buy it with the right expectations: correct magnetic toner is one ingredient of a readable check, alongside the right stock, the right template and a test batch your bank has passed. This cartridge supplies its ingredient properly, and the test-print routine in the questions above covers the rest.