Quoted from Gexchange:So I decided to take the statements and questions of this video to Stern see what they had to say... This was their reply. Hopefully, you guys will find some of this enlightening as I did
George Gomez has answered some of these questions in pin chats and interviews before but he was happy to answer them again. We tried to Catalog based on the time a statement or question was asked on the video.
2:55 — “Considering the abundance of empty space inside a pinball machine, the use of a microelectronic system is completely unnecessary and almost always makes faults far more inconvenient and expensive to repair”
Response:The Spike systems use modern, state of the art technology. Like many modern systems it is based on a distributed network and it leverages the flexibility and features inherent in surface mount components, LED lighting and switching power supplies; not unlike mobile phones, computers, automobiles, jet aircraft or any product designed for use in the world today.
The system is designed to be modular in order to allow the system to scale to the requirements of the game. Stern Pinball intends to develop games at many price points to satisfy many existing and future market segments. This means that a simpler game is not burdened with the cost of resources that it doesn’t use and a more complex game isn’t limited by a fixed set of inputs and outputs. Previous systems used a finite number of drivers and resources, extra drivers could be added but it was awkward and expensive.
3:34 — "Serviceability with Spike is not enhanced, in fact quite the opposite it true”.
Response: All new technology requires some acclimation period amongst service users. The Spike systems currently use menus that are directly based on the SAM system. A more updated diagnostic system, which takes advantage of the user interface available thru the LCD screen and built in smart diagnostics is currently in development. There are also numerous programs in development to train and educate the technical support community, operators and customers on troubleshooting techniques specific to the new system.
3:53 — “The previous SAM system already featured 100% LED illumination.”
Response: This is only true because the game referenced (Star Trek Premium/LE) was essentially a SAM/Spike hybrid with preliminary node board architecture from Spike running the LEDs.It was a modified SAM system, utilizing Spike technology.
The power budgets onthe Spike system are designed to allow the designer to use a substantially greater number of LED’s than the previous systems incandescent lighting; whilealso using similar amounts of power.In addition, the system allows for the use of color changing LED’s, giving the designer substantially more feature flexibility, more attractive light shows and greater design potential; this was impossible with incandescent lighting. LED’s are currently used in the vast majority of consumer products due to the intensity of the light, reliability, color flexibility and low power consumption.
4:03 — “It’s worth noting the Spike system is quite sensitive. If you were to replace one of the few removable LEDs with a traditional light bulb it will cause the Spike system to shut down or reset at random”.
Response:The Spike system is very robust and has passed rigorous laboratory testing that subjected it to shock, vibration, extremes in temperature, electrical shocks and radiation events way beyond what it sees in real world use. Spike is designed to work with LEDs. If an incandescent lamp is installed it draws excessive current, which is sensed by the overcurrent detection circuit; then outputs of the driving node board are turned off for ½ second. Since the overload persists, it will have the effect of disabling that node board until the offending incandescent lamp is removed. This is not a failure condition; this is a design feature to protect the system. This also allows the system to protect itself from potential shorts when someone is poking around under a playfield with a tool and accidentally shorts across components.
5:01 — “Being a microelectronic system, Spike’s circuit boards are far more delicate…”
Response:In reality small boards with SMT components are less likely to suffer failures due to mechanical shock loads due to the lower mass of the components and inherent lower inertia. In addition the same types of components are used in consumer, industrial and commercial products throughout the world today,specifically because they are more reliable and stable. Every mobile phone in use today sees much greater potential shock loads and uses the very same types of components.
5:40 — “… it would have been a wise safety precaution to have fuses in some key areas”
Response:The coil outputs have overcurrent protection.Shorted coils should cause no damage to the driver board. Sizing fuses is a non-trivial issue considering how much current a large coil can draw — a fuse which is large enough to not blow under normal conditions may not blow under a failure condition, either. This is especially problematic if a single fuse is expected to protect multiple coils.
6:16 — "Spike is definitely not a better system for operators to work with, diagnose, or repair in the field”
Response:Again, a modular system is preferable for service. LED’s are far more reliable. Service and diagnostics menus are the same as on SAM. As said before, Stern is constantly working to improve its products including serviceability. The roll out of node diagnostic code will further improve serviceability.
7:05 — “Spike diagnostics are essentially identical to the previous SAM system…”
Response:Yes, this was by design so that on system roll out operators familiar with SAM games would be able to navigate the system until training schools, support materials and more sophisticated troubleshooting methods could be introduced. As mentioned above, we are developing a suite of tools to ease the burden of diagnosing issues.
7:25 — “One of the most common Spike criticisms is that Stern has created many different playfield node and LED boards…”
Response:The variety of node boards has narrowed. Games have unique LED boards and this will likely continue to support unique game features.
The LED boards that are a unique shapeare specific to the game.
9:00 — “Some Spike boards have switch blocks but little information is provided about them”.
Response:The DIP switches are all documented in the manuals.
9:41 — “Replacing them is an expensive, time-consuming nightmare” (referencing the SMT LEDs)
Response:Again, this is common technology; SMT parts are currently used in consumer, commercial and industrial products worldwide.They do require specific techniques, training and tools but years ago when pinball went to solid state, that technology seemed equally daunting at first. There are numerous YouTube video’s on SMT repair tutorials.
9:50 — Lack of sockets for lighting …
Response:LEDs fail far less frequently.LED’s are not stressed and being SMT will not be affected by vibration.
In addition we are in the midst of transitioning most of our connectors away from insulation displacement technology to “crimp and poke” style connectors for additional reliability.
12:00 — this is a common refrain - that everything was done to increase Stern’s profits at the expense of quality.
Response:This is simply not true. Stern employs some of the most dedicated and passionate game designers, developers, artists, sound designers and engineers that have ever worked on pinball machines. Their collective portfolio of hit games, patents and awards have been accomplished under the brand banners of the best pinball companies in the history of the game and the portfolio speaks for itself. They are all players and consumers of the Stern product and guardians of the vision to create the best pinball machines in the world.
The Spike system has brought significant power to the designers; with the ability to create an inventory of flexible and modular components that allows devices that are designed for a specific game to be brought to bear on a different game with different game play results. In addition the system has brought scalable power to lamps, LCD displays, coils, switches, sensors, electromagnetic devices, motors and numerous other components.
14:40 — talks about how LCD should be less expensive than DMD.
Response: The LCD and DMD hard cost is similar; the cost of electronics to drive the LCD is much more. The art and code development cost per game is much higher.
15:48 — Power switch.
Response: The power switch was moved to the backbox in order to comply with FCC testing standards and to increase safety by removing all main power from the main cabinet; if a few cents in wire length was saved it was incidental and not at all the design intent.
On ELG
Response: the original ELG games that the operator refers to were intended to test a market segment. Every game was sold and the program taught us a lot. We intend to have a presence in consumer products at many price points and that research effort is ongoing. The Spike system was not designed specifically for those games but those games did provided an opportunity to do a pilot run of the system in order to increase reliability once the system was launched in the commercial games. The ability of the system to scale up and down was a design parameter in the original design brief for the system.
On Batman and the notion that we are going away from designing full games:
Response: We produce 3 cornerstone games every year. In addition we may produce smaller runs of studio titles and other special games. Every cornerstone is designed from scratch and includes a Pro, Premium and LE version. Batman was not a cornerstone game; it was an anniversary edition designed to celebrate 30 years of Stern Pinball. The designers chose to build on their previous Batman model in order to improve on their own design. The game was also the first Spike 2 LCD game which required substantial effort from the design team for that reason. Development on the code is ongoing and the team is dedicated and committed to finishing the game. The key members of the team intend to buy the game with their own money and add it to their personal collections and to that end they want it to be something they can be proud off. They will not abandon the game.
JJ
JJ, thanks for posting that, it is interesting and GG willing to offer his views is appreciated. Wish they would engage on this with the community much more.
GG states that node boards are unique to each specific game. To me, that's not a good thing as i wonder what the inventory of those node boards will be 5, 10 or 15+ years in the future when problems in most pins start to arise. There is also a question of cost of those boards.
He states stern is doing what is done across consumer electronics more generally. Really? How many of us have smartphones or computers that last more than 3 years, car electronics that fail within 5 years, fridges, washers, dishwashers and dryers that can't last more than a few years. I'm sorry, but electronics do not hold up like they use to. Sure, they have more features now, but longevity is compromised. Maybe it's due to cheaper parts, poor production practices or just the complexity and sensitivity of the electronics, but they don't last.
WPC89 and 95 boards are basically interchangeable across games, SAM/white star also is interchangeable across games. Why shouldn't spike be that way? Because each game is unique and a designer can do unique things? I don't think that's a great strategy and nobody is going to keep an inventory on hand of unique boards, certainly not if they are going to cost $300 each. Will unique boards be available down the road? That uniqueness comes at too high a price, IMO.
We need to know that parts are going to be available well into the future, the cost of those parts is going to be reasonable and that with some relatively basic electronics skills, an owner can fix their game without hiring an expensive tech. A new BW driver board is $300 and I can have that new board on hand and repair the old one. Can the node boards be repaired? How do you diagnose an issue on a node board?
To me, Spike is too drastic of a change in too short of a time period and I am very worried about how and at what cost repairs will be for my game(s). I own SW, but I cannot buy more spike games without these issues addressed. And I have been a big supporter of stern over the years, look at my collection and history. I agree with GG, stern makes fantastic games, but there are some significant issues hanging over spike right now.
Lastly, and not just for spike, but why did they go to those support pegs, terrible move.
