Feel like U1 on this board should be labeled U lost? Got just a node board for mine a few days ago from my distributor. It's not going in until I get this new and/or improved motor. I contacted Stern directly. Stern asked for pictures. I sent them and I'm now waiting to hear back. Seems like this is moving in the right direction. I feel bad for everyone that's been having this for much longer. I honestly just waited for better information. Sucked waiting, but hopefully just this one repair does it. Thanks to all of you that have been posting updates.

Stern confirmed I am being sent a new motor with a cable that goes directly to the node board. I'm pretty excited for the regulars that enjoy this game. They we'll be surprised and happily so. This game is a favorite to many players.

I ran the situation past Greg at FnO (second popped board, potential third fix without the connector in the middle) - waiting on a response.

In the meantime, I had to upgrade my "gorilla tape and rough cut shim" wedge to keep my ramp up. Just played a 750 million point game with a ton of multiball action - it's rock solid!

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention - once installed, you'll likely need a piece of masking tape to bridge the gap between the tip of the ramp and the time machine, otherwise balls might hung up on the gap. Depends a bit on your playfield pitch and ramp/time machine positioning.

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If anyone wants the file, it can be found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5913092

So I bought my LE used - had less than 100 plays but I'm the 3rd owner. So I have to track down the original distributor? Or can I contact the one I use to handle communicating with Stern?

I haven't blown my node board but it sounds like it's only a matter of time. Trying to figure out the best steps to prevent failure.

Great to hear! Is this Sterns new fix? Replacing all three?

Exasperating!

A box arrived from my distributor, and I just went from "Oh boy, I can fix my Rush!" to "WTF?!" in record time.

What was in the box? Just a ramp motor, one still with short leads! The connector does look better, and the zip ties are not insanely tight. But a fat lot of good another motor does me without a new node board!

And I saw how they were sending out long lead motors now, so I can only presume this short-lead motor kit was being sent to all Premium and LE owners preemptively. But this was just mailed the 17th... weird.

Also, it recently occurred to me that before my node board went bad (while somehow oddly maintaining its communication to the CPU so that the game has no startup complaints), my clock never did align to 12 o'clock correctly, and I had fiddled with the settings trying to get it to do so, with no success. I wonder if possibly it could have been the settings I left it at that resulted in a slow burn to my node board and perhaps it wasn't the ramp motor's fault at all? The original ramp motor does still measure 9 ohms on each side at the node board connector...

Just in case, could someone please tell me what the original clock settings were, for when I do get a node board?

I just heard from my distributor that Stern is sending out a new motor with the node 10 board. This will be my third node 10 board. I hope it’s my last! I did remove all the zip ties and found no damage severe enough to cause a short. Considered for a moment that the light bulb over the stepper motor could be making electrical contact so I added extra insulation there…. I love this game and would like to go back to playing it without the ramp zip tied in the up position.

The 'original' clock settings are usually showing a bias setting at 0, this could possibly align the finger hand at 12 o'clock or not, it depends on a few various factors.

The production line didn't seem to bother making the adjustments to align the motor prior to shipment as there are lots out there that are not referenced correctly.

You'll have to make a correction using the bias function in the settings menu and save it to re-align the clock hand.

Can't believe that altering the bias setting would fry the board.

I thought that was what I was doing, but nothing seemed to make any difference. Has anyone adjusted it successfully?

Yes

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-official-rush-owners-club-1/page/190#post-7139356

This should help.

Make sure when making the adjustment you are at M0, this is the reference point for zeroing the clock hand( 12 o'clock ). All the other points on the clock will then align to this point.

Bias options cannot be saved for each position, only the reference point.

I saw someone mention receiving a stepper motor in the mail from a distributer. Same thing happened for me. Just a stepper motor with the original square plug that goes into a connector instead of straight to the board. Replacement directions are dated February 14, 2023. Has anyone actually received a later revision that has the wiring that is longer and goes directly to the node 10 board? I thought maybe the motor had a different current draw but it is exactly the same part number and marked .67A
I was thinking about doing the straight through solder mod to delete the connector and cutting the wire ties, but I do not see any upside in just changing out the motor???

Just spoke to Stern Tech support. He says hold tight, a revision of the revision is coming that is a stepper motor that has the connector connecting directly to the node 10 board.

I have a similar issue, and a temporary fix if you don't want to use the super cool ramp fix 3d printed in the above post... Stern support told me they are waiting on the new stepper motor with the direct connect to the node 10 board. They are sending a replacement node10 board and a new stepper motor once they are in stock. My ramp was "possessed" as it would be up when it should be down, and would dance up and down at startup trying to find a cup of coffee or something I guess. I decided to bypass the ramp by making a wood support that holds the ramp up all the time. There are two connectors to disconnect the stepper motor from the node 10 board. I asked Stern support if this was cool, and he said, "Absolutely, you basically have converted the premium ramp to a "pro" ramp setup." Game is very playable, and everything works as it should... Only difference is if ramp should be down (it's not obviously), ball passes through the time machine with no grab. Very playable while I wait for parts! Thought my mod might help someone.

Cheers,

-Scott
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I don’t know WHY I didn’t think of that shape/means of wedging when I made my wedge. Looks like it doesn’t even require disassembly of the ramp! That’s brilliant.

Ha! I Love your design! I just don't have a means to make one, so I grabbed a piece of scrap wood and shaped it on the bandsaw real quick... Got lucky! Hopefully this lasts long enough till the new motor & board comes in, but seems to work so far! I did like not disassembling the ramp.. Been through that to put the new rubber bumpers in there. gah! Cheers mate!

I simply jammed a rubber ball under the ramp, and it made it easy to adjust the ramp height. Too low and the ball would hop and hit the top of the TM tunnel and bounce back, too high and it would get hung up on the lip all the time.

First off, I really appreciate this thread and have learned a lot.

Second, even after reading a lot on this thread, I still have a couple questions:

1. I am still confused on what I have to do if my board fails (as mine did a little while ago). I propped up the ramp but do i also need to disconnect the time machine and the drum? If yes, where are those connections located?
2. I gather that if I only replace the board, it will probably blow that board as well because the underlying issue (ie. wire kinking) will still be there. Is this correct?
2. Are most people waiting for a stern fix until they replace the board, wire clamps, etc.?

Thanks and apologies for all the questions. I genuinely tried to answer these questions myself.

Drama queen, only $1699,

I forgot to ask when I ordered

Stern is still waiting on more parts and then will send out the final/final motor fix to those on the waitlist. This is what Stern customer support told me as of 24 hours ago.

Are you back in?

they have to pay for all of the replacement boards somehow.

They should be offering toppers at cost to anyone experiencing faults which have still yet to be resolved as a good will gesture !!

( Tin hat time )

I wish.... just trying to help out a guy with a Rush Prem.

I think you would see this first:

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Pink Floyd pin, excellent !!

I asked Stern about possibly getting a discount on the topper due to the Node 10 issues and was denied. Didn’t think it hurt to ask.
We’re waiting on our 5th Node 10 board.

I really don't know how to respond to that comment, hope you get it sorted. If you need any advice when you get the parts there is plenty to be had here, just shout.

Let me start by saying this is our very first pinball machine so this is all very new to us. We have learned a lot but I’m still hesitant to dive in and try to self diagnose/fix and have been relying on Stern mostly. Probably a huge mistake but they have been quite helpful and responsive in trying to resolve and keep us up to date on what they are doing on their end to figure out this issue. Frustrating to say the least but I feel like they are working on figuring out the cause and eventually will figure it out finally.
I may have miscounted after going back through my back and forth with Stern and its 5th, not 6th. Feels like a hundred. Machine arrived late August and the original board failed mid-September. Stern sent a replacement board which failed 2 weeks later. Couldn’t find anything wrong with the exception of the way over tightened zip ties on the motor wiring, which I think began the whole looking at the zip ties theory. Stern sent new board and new motor which failed after 2 games. Stern again sent new motor/board with supposedly redone pins. Board failed again. Crimps on the pins apparently were still not done correctly according to Stern after they looked at pictures. So now we are waiting for the latest motor with the wires going directly to the board without the connector involved. Not convinced that will be the end of this issue but hopefully. My husband is an electronics engineer although not usually dealing with boards etc but he is convinced the issue is with the design of the board itself.
It’s frustrating as like I said this is our first machine. We’ve talked about owning a home pin for nearly 30 years because back when we were dating, we spent a lot of our dates playing pinball. Great memories! We were never settled enough to buy one. Decided this year we were in a good position to finally buy one. We each had milestone birthdays last year and thought it was the perfect gift to ourselves and took the plunge. Wanted to buy the Creature machine as it was what we spent so many dates playing and always wanted to own. Distributor thought a NIB machine would be better for us as it would be less maintenance over a used machine. Haha. So now here we are with this fantastic machine with nothing but issues since it arrived.

Stern has been great. Distributor has been MIA through all this. What little response I have gotten from them has been less than helpful. Hoping to add another machine in the near future and it will for sure NOT be through them.

Buy as close to local as you can, it's worth the few hundred you might save by buying from someone who knows they will never see you for maintenance

We did. Closest we could find but still 3 hours away.

I bought Rush Premium NIB from a local friend. He had ordered it but was able to find a couple highly sough-after titles in the mean time and needed to sell it upon arrival. So, he's been dealing with the distributor and Stern.

He contacted Stern on Tuesday (3 days ago) and related "My contact basically reiterated the results from the thread - 'new motor, new board, backordered' "

Where are you located, maybe some one on here is local and can help ?

We’re pretty remote so 2-3 hours away is the norm for anything. It’s all good though. I’m learning tons so far regarding maintenance and troubleshooting and it’s actually become quite a fun little hobby for me which I wasn’t really expecting. Definitely has become less intimidating to me. Have already replaced coil stops, replaced all the black rubber, ninjacamp scoop fix, installed a shaker motor, etc and unfortunately getting to be a pro at swapping out the node board and ramp motor. Just ordered the expression lights so will get to install them and planning on ordering the Pinwoofer kit hopefully soon. The machine is playable for now with the ramp disabled and will just wait for Stern to get the motors in stock and give it another try with fingers and toes crossed. Not sure there is anything else we can really do at this point. And hey… if I can score over a billion without a working ramp I can’t wait to see how well it plays with a working ramp.

I felt sorry for you until I read this. Welcome to pinball ownership. If only you had chose the pro. ha ha.
A great first pin and if you can survive this you are ready for anything.

Haha, not giving up just yet. It’s a pretty awesome game and despite all the issues with the node 10 we have no regrets.

No tennis ball required!

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