What's new
Pinball info

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Stern Node Boards - Reality

DRD

DRD

Registered
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
5,434
Location
Newark
Given the Australian guy's videos and concerns about these, how about forum members share their experiences of Stern Spike machine ownership ?

There are enough owners on here with enough machines to provide facts rather than rumours

Machine title
Period of ownership
Board failures (if any)
Repair/ replacement costs (if any)
 
I have owned the following or had the following Spike 2 games here:

IMDN (x2), BM66, GOTG, DP, TMNT, JP2 - probably a combined ownership of 2 years in total.

Never had a node board failure touch wood.
 
Sw pro
24 hours
Node 8 and 9
£400

Ps . Not had any issues with games bought new which would have had warranty
 
Not yet had a node board failure across multiple machines.
TWD had an issue that required a new harness.
Elvira has a shockingly shoddy build quality considering the cost and that it was NIB.
Think my Aerosmith had had a node board replaced by Ian before I bought it.

Compared to Spooky the games are well built.
 
DP pro node board 8 failure. Had to buy a new one from Phil. Machine was about 14 months old but as I was the 2nd owner no warranty. New board fitted and immediately a coil locked and started melting, I removed the board and took a close look at the underside, 2 solder points were bridged with solder causing a dead short. Removed short on Phil's request, luckily there was no further damage caused. Ironically the bridged solder point was right next to the signed QC sticker! awesome work stern.

DP pro - cabinet node board - shaker output blown. Machine worked fine otherwise but won't drive a shaker until I replace the board.

Oh, I'm not going to list the machines I have with no node faults, that would be tempting fate :cuckoo:!
 
Last edited:
Iron Maiden and GoTG about 2 years.
Ghostbusters 4 months.
Also had WOZ for over 3 years running 5v light boards.
No faults on any of them.
 
johnwhitfield said:
Not yet had a node board failure across multiple machines.
TWD had an issue that required a new harness.
Elvira has a shockingly shoddy build quality considering the cost and that it was NIB.
Think my Aerosmith had had a node board replaced by Ian before I bought it.

Compared to Spooky the games are well built.
Click to expand...
Ian offered me that ASLE at one point because i showed an interest, i remember the price was decent too on the final sale, i wasn't in a position to buy at that time and regret it a lot.

If you ever plan to sell please keep me in mind :)
 
In the past two years I have not changed a node board in any of the games at @Tilt_Birmingham (unless Kirk can remind me!). I would guess at least 6 games minimum use the spike/spike2 system.

Newer software revisions have seemed to make them more reliable.

I replaced the CPU board in WWE Pro before Scotty had it.

If you do not like this system then I would steer away from JJP/CGC and American pinball - as they all use some sort of node system.

If a PROC board goes down for instance on a spooky - that is not cheap either.

Last week I did replace a node on an Iron Maiden pro for a customer.

It is not a perfect system but overall it would not put me off owning a game.
 
I've a few spike 1 and 2 pins with no issues, but if the issues arise from usage for example boards overheating with games on 24/7 then would it be fair to say its going to be mostly ops having issues, not us in the huo environment?
 
Lots of spike games. One node8 failure 2 days from new which was a warranty replacement. No issues apart from that. I do theories that leaving them on 20 hours a day is where faults start I.e. when operated.
 
3 Spike games swapped in and out over a period of 3.5 years - no issues, although my games don't get a massive amount of play and are never left on for more than an hour.
 
One CPU failure that was replaced under warranty in 48 hours. Thats across 19 games. of which 11 are Spike 2, 1 is Spike 1 and 7 SAM. Not had any playfield pooling or chipping.

I think that Star Wars games had the worst failure rate and stern figured it out quickly afterwards.

Cheers,
Neil.
 
I leave my pins on when I’m getting ****ed up.
Then forget to play them as I end up talking sh^t instead.
When I do try and have a game I’m total crap, alcohol and pins don’t work well for me.
So main PCB failures:-

- Crap manufacturing
- Environmental
- Things burning, getting too hot
Are we saying leaving a pin on is generating too much heat?
I get it if your talking a GPU or CPU board with heat sinks etc... and poor circulation with crap fan but standard node boards for lights and what not?
That surely isn’t down to heat dissipation under the playfield is it?
Must be something else responsible for premature failure.
 
Neil McRae said:
One CPU failure that was replaced under warranty in 48 hours. Thats across 19 games. of which 11 are Spike 2, 1 is Spike 1 and 7 SAM. Not had any playfield pooling or chipping.

I think that Star Wars games had the worst failure rate and stern figured it out quickly afterwards.

Cheers,
Neil.
Click to expand...
Sw for sure has the worst node board failure and can take out all the light and trough boards on node 8
Closely followed by bm66
It’s strange why steve bums sw both failed as it came from a customer of mine and only had low plays he was the only owner and was in the same place I installed it all it’s life
 
I've had 3 Spike games total. Ghostbusters sh1t the bed after a few weeks. One of the node boards under the play field blew a gasket. The other 2 Spike games were fine.
 
CHRIS B PINBALLS said:
Sw for sure has the worst node board failure and can take out all the light and trough boards on node 8
Closely followed by bm66
It’s strange why steve bums sw both failed as it came from a customer of mine and only had low plays he was the only owner and was in the same place I installed it all it’s life
Click to expand...

Don’t want to tempt fate in my B66 but with the fixes so far so good!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Is there a list of techs on the forum - geared up with Digital Oscilloscopes + Logic Analysers who are happy to tackle Spike board repairs?
 
CHRIS B PINBALLS said:
Probably not for what people on group want to pay
Click to expand...
Would it be cheaper than a new board @CHRIS B PINBALLS - I do wonder if TV repair shops now would be able to do them, has all that tech gone surface mount? This is assuming its sheap for them to shotgun the lot? I know nothing about the node tech or surface mount, how long does it take to change out issues on them?
 
I'm sure @AlanJ will chirp in but my failed node board was pretty much irreparable due to the pcb itself being multi-layered. Hearing @Chris P 's mpu failure story and how much that cost for a replacement....that would definitely put me off ever buying another Stern.
 
James said:
Would it be cheaper than a new board @CHRIS B PINBALLS - I do wonder if TV repair shops now would be able to do them, has all that tech gone surface mount? This is assuming its sheap for them to shotgun the lot? I know nothing about the node tech or surface mount, how long does it take to change out issues on them?
Click to expand...
I can’t see anyone touching one who is not a pinball person you would need a complete pinball machine to diagnose them as the node board will do nothing unless plugged in to the cpu
Why would any good business spend time and effort studying them only to get 4 boards a year
And when you can buy a new one for £200 I suspect they would want more to fix it than that
 
yes i’d say these are uneconomical to repair. it took me ages to take off the blown component and clean up the board. putting a new part on is not easy either. then tested before applying appropriate power only to see it go up in smoke again.

i’ve been studying more about how the node board works. i’ve got [mention]steve brum [/mention] boards to have a look at next. the first one has same blown regulator. it looks like board is shorted though. the other one has no visible blown parts and as yet i can’t figure out what could be wrong.

these boards do not fire up simply by applying power. they also need a signal power from being plugged into the rest of the machine / next board etc. so you have to simulate that on the bench which just makes it more complex and time consuming.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Sako-TRG said:
Not sure if @myPinballs is happy to undertake Spike Node board troubleshooting and repair.
Is there a set price list or depends on T&M
Click to expand...
I can’t see why Jim or any other pinball repair person would bother let’s just say that they charge £100 to look at it spent 2 days and a few quid in parts and couldn’t fix it would any group member accept that no they would say I have spent £100 for nothing
If he did fix it and charged you it lasted 2 weeks and failed again you would want your money back so it’s a risk reward thing and not worth the hassle
 
AlanJ said:
yes i’d say these are uneconomical to repair. it took me ages to take off the blown component and clean up the board. putting a new part on is not easy either. then tested before applying appropriate power only to see it go up in smoke again.

i’ve been studying more about how the node board works. i’ve got [mention]steve brum [/mention] boards to have a look at next. the first one has same blown regulator. it looks like board is shorted though. the other one has no visible blown parts and as yet i can’t figure out what could be wrong.

these boards do not fire up simply by applying power. they also need a signal power from being plugged into the rest of the machine / next board etc. so you have to simulate that on the bench which just makes it more complex and time consuming.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Thanks Alan I have only been saying this for 3 years
 
Only have one spike game (spike 2) Aerosmith. Had a node board go on it at the start of the year (a few months after PH warranty ran out) luckily a mate had a spare and we got it sorted. It was the normal 10p component Phon node8 board. The problem isn’t really that these go it’s the cost to replace them. I understand stern need to charge for dev etc but £200 for the basic board is a bit steep, i thought the main point of the node boards was to reduce cost when fixing pins.

I guess when the likes of homepin or whoever start making replacements the prices will be more palatable, I guess at least they are not topper prices and do a lot more.
 
CHRIS B PINBALLS said:
Sw for sure has the worst node board failure and can take out all the light and trough boards on node 8
Closely followed by bm66
It’s strange why steve bums sw both failed as it came from a customer of mine and only had low plays he was the only owner and was in the same place I installed it all it’s life
Click to expand...
It was moved . Always a risk with any pinball. Machine was immaculate and well maintained. Main bug bear is the cost of replacements. Game was spot on for 4 weeks after that. Now of course it sits unplayed. C'est la vie
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom