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HP RM1-4525 Paper Size Detect Switches.

The HP P4014, P4015, P4515 and the Enterprise 600 M601 series are intended for workgroups - two or more users sharing a printer. The printer should need as little attention as possible so these machines have big 500 sheet drawers that can hold a ream of paper. They can have four expansion trays holding different sizes of paper. The paper size switches allow the printer to automatially detect what paper has been loaded so that it can match what the user's computer requested.

The same switch assembly RM1-4525 is used in the LaserJet P4014 series and the M601 series. Very similar methods were used in the LaserJet 4000, 4100 and 4200; HP obviously like the idea.

RM1-4525

The switch assembly is a plastic device with three fingers that stick into the cassette tray recess. There are matching fingers on the side of the cassette tray. When the tray is closed the tray fingers push those on the RM1-4525 and close the appropriate switches. The printer sees the switches operate and selects one of 8 possible paper sizes automatically.

The switch fingers are mainly worked by three rows of holes in the paper backstop.

These mechanisms are known for giving intermittent difficulty. Cassette trays are heavy when loaded with a ream of paper so people ram them home and that might be an issue. Unusually for parts of an expensive printer the switches seem to be mechanical. It does seem possible to lose the spring behind the switch-bank as well, it doesn't seem to have it's own part number.

Look at the configuration page and at the printer drivers in use before concluding the paper detect switches are wrong. If you know you have A4 in the tray and the print drivers are definitely set to use A4 and the printer still comes up with daft messages try changing the paper size and see what the printer detects on it's configuration page.

One of the printers we use in house has a problem with the switch assembly and to be honest we have never fixed it, we just reach inside when it plays up and push all the switch fingers a couple of times and it comes back to life. We think one of the switches has got a bit sticky ( a spray with isopropyl might help when I think about it). Our approach probably won't always work and wouldn't be acceptable on as large site. Inside the switch assembly is one switch mechanism with a common pole and three poles that could easily be tested with a continuity meter.

Check the cassette tray itself RM1-4559 and make sure its fingers look OK, there are guards protecting them but they might get broken. Trays are always a bit vulnerable as they are plastic but hold anything up to 2.5 kilos of paper.

HP Partsurfer doesn't give much information. A wildcard query gives:

HWP-RM1-4525-000CN Size detect assy
RM1-4525-000CN Paper size sensor/detect assembly

and

RM1-4525-000CN Paper size sensor/detect assembly

... and lists the P4014, P4014N, P4014DN, P4015N, P4015DN, P4015X, P4515N, P4515TN, P4515X, P4515XM and the LaserJet M601N, M601DN, M602N, M602DN, M603N, M603DN and M603XH as printers it fits.

So far as is known there are no alternate parts although the switch assembly in the LaserJet 4200 was quite similar. It has a different part number and looks a bit different.

According to Icecat RM1-4525-000CN has the EAN/UPC code 5704327814535, has had 40 product views and is classified in category "power adapters & inverters" (which is wrong).

Amazon apparently has an ASIN for RM1-4525 B003IME7F6

Web Research

A Google search on RM1-4525gives About 368,000 results (0.27 seconds). It sometimes seems that the number of results shown is in inverse proportion to the parts importance. Results were:

Amazon (ILGS) £24.33, Chips £9.99 discounted to£9.56, morecomputers £26.10, printerworks $17.99, lambda-tek £10.74, eBay (strepx) $17.50, impactcomputers $23.30, partshere $15.26, txo-systems RFQ, printersupplies$19.05, laserpros login required, mavit £12.05, .feedroller $16.88, eBay (irrelevant entry for transfer belts), hp-web £18.12, sparepartswarehouse $14.91, pinnacledata RFQ, marketpoint $17.66, brookparts RFQ, brookparts again RFQ, newfuser $15.74, partsnow login required, icecat info page, everprint $ 80.34, partsmart-corp (irrelevant entry), techpartswarehouse RFQ, amazon blank page, alibaba (Guangzhou Powershow) no price, memory4less call.

Prices noted are for a new item without tax. The list is as encountered. We give raw data without currency conversion - half of our readers are outside the UK and are more interested in dollar prices.

Fitting is not too difficult. The top and right hand side of the printer need to be removed; the switch assembly is held by two screws and there is a four-way CT connector going into the assembly.

Supply Situation

It is surprising to find 368,000 Google responses to a query for a part that will rarely be wanted. the only Asian entry in the list seems to strip surplus printers, there was no sign of a compatible maker. Perhaps that isn't too surprising in that the part doesn't seem to go wrong much and HP's trade price is under £10.

Only two UK distributors listed the part and at the time of checking neither had stock.

We are able to supply these parts on 3-5 day order time direct from HP. There seems to be too little demand to hold stock ourselves. There is little argument for refurbished parts given HP's price. A broker might be able to deliver the part more quickly but probably not at much saving. These remarks on price and availability are guidelines, our prices change with distribution lists - see the catalog . Stock numbers indicate there is not much call for the part.