(Topic ID: 235184)

**Stern Failed Node Board - Shaker versus No Shaker** - POLL

By swinks

5 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 55 posts
  • 21 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 5 years ago by Strummy
  • Topic is favorited by 4 Pinsiders

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Topic poll

“Have you experienced playfield failed node / light boards? did your game:”

  • HAVE a shaker fitted to the game 22 votes
    19%
  • NOT HAVE a shaker fitted to the game 13 votes
    12%
  • Has not occured to me but curious of the POLL results 78 votes
    69%

(113 votes)

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There are 55 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 2.
#1 5 years ago

With all the talk of Node Boards apparently starting to fail, I was wondering if having a Shaker Motor fitted to a game is contributing to node / light board damage due to the possible excessive shaking of the boards / and their components.

So can people with failed boards please cast your vote of what your situation was, so maybe we can identify a pattern.

**** I put a vote option for people that have not had any issues but curious of the poll results****.

#2 5 years ago

see this thread for more info and chatter
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/node-boards-some-new-bullshit/page/12#post-4817966

also please link the game that you had issues with, that you voted for ..........

#3 5 years ago

lastly a cool spike node board chart by hocuslocus

Stern_Node_Boards(1) - Pinsider-hocuslocus copy (resized).pngStern_Node_Boards(1) - Pinsider-hocuslocus copy (resized).png
#4 5 years ago
Quoted from swinks:

lastly a cool spike node board chart by hocuslocus
[quoted image]

Brilliant work. Thanks for this.

#5 5 years ago

Great work.

I had a GB Pro and there was NO shaker involved when a NoBo failed.

#6 5 years ago
Quoted from swinks:

**** I put a vote option for people that have not had any issues but curious of the poll results****.

I think that category would also be insightful to break down by shaker and no-shaker. I think the poll might shed more light if the options were:

Failure on non-shaker machine
Failure on shaker machine
No Failure on non-shaker machine
No Failure on shaker machine

And personally, I'm in the 4th category. Also, allow multiple votes: maybe someone has no failure on non-shaker and failure on shaker.

#7 5 years ago
Quoted from HighVoltage:

I think that category would also be insightful to break down by shaker and no-shaker. I think the poll might shed more light if the options were:
Failure on non-shaker machine
Failure on shaker machine
No Failure on non-shaker machine
No Failure on shaker machine
And personally, I'm in the 4th category. Also, allow multiple votes: maybe someone has no failure on non-shaker and failure on shaker.

yeah I understand where you are coming from but thought just to look at the failures only, opening the other 2 would just create massive % to non failure

that said I can no longer adjust the poll so locked in as is.

#8 5 years ago
Quoted from ausretrogamer:

Brilliant work. Thanks for this.

I can't take any credit for the board chart, all @hocuslocus, great work by him

#9 5 years ago

See my ACL thread Swinks.

#10 5 years ago
Quoted from Wotto:

See my ACL thread Swinks.

here or on AA

#11 5 years ago

I have had GoT Pre since day one with a shaker, no problems so far.

#12 5 years ago

I’ve personally never had a node board fail and have cointaker shakers in all my games, but am interested to hear from others.

#13 5 years ago

No shakers in mine. Massive vibration + sensitive electronic components = Not Good in my Book

#14 5 years ago
Quoted from swinks:

With all the talk of Node Boards apparently starting to fail, I was wondering if having a Shaker Motor fitted to a game is contributing to node / light board damage due to the possible excessive shaking of the boards / and their components.
So can people with failed boards please cast your vote of what your situation was, so maybe we can identify a pattern.
**** I put a vote option for people that have not had any issues but curious of the poll results****.

I have a shaker in a GOT that has close to 10k plays. Never had a board fail. I’ve had to rebuild the flippers like 3 times. That’s it.

#15 5 years ago

I adjust the weights in my shaker motors to lessen the vibration.

#16 5 years ago

What is the deal with some of these shakers?

I’ve played some games that feel like they are going to shake the studs from the walls. What’s up with that? Some suped up versions out there?

The one I have in my GOT is like a rumble pack from N64. No way that risks any issue to the game. Me moving the game would cause more vibration. Haha

#17 5 years ago
Quoted from chuckwurt:

What is the deal with some of these shakers?
I’ve played some games that feel like they are going to shake the studs from the walls. What’s up with that? Some suped up versions out there?
The one I have in my GOT is like a rumble pack from N64. No way that risks any issue to the game. Me moving the game would cause more vibration. Haha

I had a red tremor in my GB premium and had to return it and get the other model from Cointaker that didn't shake as much. REd tremor made it feel like my pinball legs were going to fall off.

Haven't had a Node problem, knock on wood, but Dwight needs to update the code as you cannot adjust the intensity level in settings....it is set on Max and I'd like to lower it to minimum.....it is a great addition to the game iMHO

#18 5 years ago
Quoted from swinks:

yeah I understand where you are coming from but thought just to look at the failures only, opening the other 2 would just create massive % to non failure

It was a good thought, but not sure what you expect to learn the way it is. You could have edited the first message and pointed to a new poll that you might actually be able to deduce something from.

% of shaker machines with issues versus % of non-shaker machines with issues would be way more telling.

#19 5 years ago
Quoted from HighVoltage:

It was a good thought, but not sure what you expect to learn the way it is. You could have edited the first message and pointed to a new poll that you might actually be able to deduce something from.
% of shaker machines with issues versus % of non-shaker machines with issues would be way more telling.

it is showing us currently 12 hours in that 70% of the boards that failed were from games with shakers, though hoping to get more votes as time goes on
7 games with failed boards also had shakers in the game
3 games with failed boards did not have shakers in the game

I didn't want to cloud the survey with what percentage of games overall sold as yes you would be right as node board failure is probably only a few % of total sales, just curious if vibration from shakers could be a link

I also opened my first post and I can change the title and the post but have no access to the poll, so is what it is... and don't want to start another thread

#20 5 years ago

That's meaningless as you don't know the number of respondents that have shakers or not.

But it is showing that there's a pretty high % of failures: 10 of 41.

#21 5 years ago
Quoted from chuckwurt:

What is the deal with some of these shakers?
I’ve played some games that feel like they are going to shake the studs from the walls. What’s up with that? Some suped up versions out there?
The one I have in my GOT is like a rumble pack from N64. No way that risks any issue to the game. Me moving the game would cause more vibration. Haha

I had a IM which was pre-spike, and on a medium to max setting which at max, would shake so much and you could feel it through the house, so always concerned me in relation to boards mounted to the playfield / game

#22 5 years ago
Quoted from HighVoltage:

That's meaningless as you don't know the number of respondents that have shakers or not.
But it is showing that there's a pretty high % of failures: 10 of 41.

I get what you are saying but I am just wondering of the failures what ones had shakers, that's it........ so it's meaningful to me and if you want more info maybe start a poll for yourself as this one is locked in.

#23 5 years ago
Quoted from swinks:

I am just wondering of the failures what ones had shakers

Maybe it's just the same as: of the respondents, how many had shakers...

Giving you a hard time... but it's because with one more option, this might have actually shown something. I thought you started with the thought there was a correlation with having a shaker.

Have fun.

#24 5 years ago

Possibly dumbest question ever coming up.....if this all results in determining the shakers contribute to the issue, is there some type of material you could add at the board mounting points that could help absorb vibrations / restrict amount of vibration directly going to boards via the mounting points?

#25 5 years ago

rubber washer or even a o-ring could reduce the vibrations if the shakers are a contributing factor - at the moment it's just a question
as for the poll - 20hrs in and:
- 9 people have had problems with their boards that have shakers
- 4 people have had problems with their boards that have no shakers

I was just thinking of it like a car, if a car did not have suspension or rubber / air tyres the vibrations would get bad through the vehicle and shake itself apart - cabinet joins and fine electronics would be the weak links

#26 5 years ago

I dont think this survey will be accurate to determine if the shaker is the cause of the failure.

You would have to do a poll of ALL games " equal amounts on both sides " with and without shakers and each sides failure rate then figure out the percentage of failure between them.

Most people have shakers so the chances of failure are much higher just based on volume.

Not saying shakers help the problem as Im sure they dont.

#27 5 years ago
Quoted from hoby1:

I dont think this survey will be accurate to determine if the shaker is the cause of the failure.
You would have to do a poll of ALL games " equal amounts on both sides " with and without shakers and each sides failure rate then figure out the percentage of failure between them.
Most people have shakers so the chances of failure are much higher just based on volume.
Not saying shakers help the problem as Im sure they dont.

I agree with some of what you wrote...

the node thread has alot of people complaining, but no real answers of what it could be which I respect as we don't have schematics nor any data so just thought to expand that with some data starting with shakers, which to date is currently.
- 11 people have had problems with their boards that have shakers
- 5 people have had problems with their boards that have no shakers

I don't know if Stern carries out a survey when a person claims node failures (I highly doubt it) but they should be asking something like the following if they really want to identify the issue, but highly doubt it as then they would be acknowledging there are issues:

- Do you have a shaker installed?
- What setting is the shaker often setup at - High, Medium, Low ?
- Have you lifted your playfield "x" amount of times or more?
- Do you have any mods installed that are pulling power?
- Where are they pulling power from?
- What is the serial number of your game?
- Do you site your game?
- If you do, do you move it around?
and there are possible other questions

#28 5 years ago

I rubber mounted the node boards attached to the pf. Easy to do. It's probably a good idea to rubber mount the CPU board, too.

#29 5 years ago
Quoted from D-Gottlieb:

I rubber mounted the node boards attached to the pf. Easy to do. It's probably a good idea to rubber mount the CPU board, too.

And no issues im guessing?
Shaker installed?

Image of mounting available?

#30 5 years ago
Quoted from Wotto:

And no issues im guessing?
Shaker installed?
Image of mounting available?

I will post a pic tomorrow. I am almost certain that the shaker motor vibration affected the CPU board. It failed soon after the shaker was installed. The backbox vibrates noticeably and the cpu board is not happy with that.

#31 5 years ago
Quoted from chuckwurt:

What is the deal with some of these shakers?
I’ve played some games that feel like they are going to shake the studs from the walls. What’s up with that? Some suped up versions out there?
The one I have in my GOT is like a rumble pack from N64. No way that risks any issue to the game. Me moving the game would cause more vibration. Haha

https://sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Stern-ShakerMotorAdvisory.pdf

Seems to point to power issues.

#32 5 years ago
Quoted from D-Gottlieb:

I will post a pic tomorrow.

Thankyou. Appreciated

#34 5 years ago
Quoted from chuckwurt:

Interesting. I wonder why I haven’t had issues?

If the wrong shaker motor is used with a Spike 2 system, it will fry the driver board in the cabinet. Use the correct shaker motor and there is no problem.

#35 5 years ago
Quoted from D-Gottlieb:

If the wrong shaker motor is used with a Spike 2 system, it will fry the driver board in the cabinet. Use the correct shaker motor and there is no problem.

So that service bulletin is for if you get the wrong shaker?

#36 5 years ago
Quoted from chuckwurt:

So that service bulletin is for if you get the wrong shaker?

No, that is a must have add on to prevent the slam tilt issue. That issue was power related. If you haven't fitted the capacitor, you should. Stern also warned about using non-Stern shakers, like those from Pinball Life.

#37 5 years ago

I used rubber isolator mounts from Amazon and some scraps.

IMG_20190205_064916.jpgIMG_20190205_064916.jpg
#39 5 years ago

I also rubber mounted the cpu board. The wires are ground straps.

IMG_20190205_103356.jpgIMG_20190205_103356.jpgIMG_20190205_103432.jpgIMG_20190205_103432.jpg
#40 5 years ago

I never buy shakers, and turn them off when games come with them. Not for game safety, I just find them annoying.

I've also never had a node board issue.

#41 5 years ago
Quoted from D-Gottlieb:

No, that is a must have add on to prevent the slam tilt issue. That issue was power related. If you haven't fitted the capacitor, you should. Stern also warned about using non-Stern shakers, like those from Pinball Life.

When Spike 2 first came out, Pinball Life’s shakers weren’t compatible and fried some boards. Pinball Life quickly corrected the problem (with their Revision C shaker), and paid for everyone’s repairs. I’ve got a Pinball Life shaker in my SW and it works great.

#42 5 years ago

I do as well.

1 week later
#43 5 years ago
Quoted from D-Gottlieb:

I also rubber mounted the cpu board. The wires are ground straps.
[quoted image][quoted image]

those ground straps are pretty hardcore man

#44 5 years ago
Quoted from hocuslocus:

those ground straps are pretty hardcore man

You mean the aircraft battery cables?

#45 5 years ago

I don't mess around.

#46 5 years ago

They are awesome

#47 5 years ago

Stern should be fixing this. There is no way node board issues should be up to end users to figure out.

1 week later
#48 5 years ago

I placed an order in January for my 1st Pinball machine. At one point I asked for the order to be adjusted to remove the shaker due to my concerns from an interaction with a machine tech at work. The tech noted that he would not have had a career if it weren't for manufactures mounting harmonic generating devices on the same base as their control systems.

The dealer and I shared a back-and-forth about it and I feel that our positions are solid and not likely to change; A dealer's position of 'We install shakers with no issues' versus My position of 'I'm afraid - don't risk the $'.

I wonder if it's worthwhile to initiate a group effort to gather the boards/shakers in question and provide them to a compliance facility to see if they will withstand the use they are designed for. Similar to tests conducted for IEC 60068-2-27 Shock Testing; https://keystonecompliance.com/iec-60068-2-27/

It's not cheap, but I'd chip-in.

#49 5 years ago
Quoted from RockfordReplay:

The dealer and I shared a back-and-forth about it and I feel that our positions are solid and not likely to change; A dealer's position of 'We install shakers with no issues' versus My position of 'I'm afraid - don't risk the $'.

The customer is always right. You don't even need a technical reason. "I don't like shakers; take it off" should be enough.

#50 5 years ago

You can disable it in the service menu.

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