I guess I suck then, still at just 320 million on my Pro after 300 games. It's ok though, still absolutely love this game!

We moved from Seattle to Thousand Oaks back in 2005, small world! Lived in Kirkland and Bellevue for about 6 years, very much enjoyed our time up there.

I got the complete set or whatever he was selling that had all of them (sorry new to pins)

I’ve seen you asking for help for a while, but it doesn’t appear that any full instructions exist. (Full disclosure: I haven’t installed the Cliffy. I’ve done a few Ninja mods and swapped out a bad node 10 board). That being said, here’s what I can offer:

It looks like to me is these two pieces (and the fork overlay below them) replace the stock Stern protectors.
CF75322E-1018-4DAE-8A39-240C529CE378 (resized).jpeg
The finished scoop protector looks like this:
354E1768-1808-4FFB-A19A-7FBA5088B7AA (resized).jpegcoasterguy did the one above, so you may want to direct message him, too.

There are more close ups at Cliffy’s page second set down:
http://www.passionforpinball.com/wip.htm

To get things disassembled to where you can install the Cliffy, check out Jon Borg’s video:

Also, the Ninjacamp guys have instructions for their protector but the disassembly process (up to step 5) is gonna be the same:
http://mjf.me/Pinball/Rush_TPU_Scoop_Protector_v2_Installation.pdf

I get really nervous tinkering on my $9000 toy. So since you’re new to pins (like me and lots of others here), what I like to do is take LOTS of pictures and video before I unscrew anything. They’re a good reference to how stuff should go back together and I figure I can always delete em when Im done. Sure as sh*t those pics came in helpful when I swapped out my node 10 board!

I read somewhere earlier in this thread if you email Cliff directly for help. mailto:[email protected]

I hope that at least gets you started. Share your progress because I’d bet there are other people lurking with similar uncertainty.
Bill

I just had the most insane game of my life on Rush LE. Played for what felt like over an hour and shattered my own GC and just about every champion score on the game. Easily the best game of pinball I’ve ever played! Got Cygnus X1 book 1 twice in one game, but couldn’t figure out how to reach book 2.

This game has so much flow and just keeps on rolling song after song. I need to study the rules more, but Jesus that was epic. My hands and wrists are shot! This game is amazing, it never got boring or repetitive. So many great callouts!

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That’s awesome! Congrats!

You're a brave soul, swapping in your GZ node 10 board. Should that also give up the MBS (magic blue smoke), you're out 2 games, with no guarantee Stern would warranty the second board. Until we have definitive proof of the cause of these failures, its a risk to just swap boards and expect this to solve the issue.

I was having the same thoughts and nervous just reading that post. I would put it back in GZ pronto and be glad you got a night of Rush AND keeping your MBS. Assuming you've checked the spot for the crimped wires illustrated in this forum and speculated as a possible culprit, but i think not confirmed? ... which could also explain Stern's "damaged wires" comment. Hope you get some resolution.

My scoop is shooting the ball straight down the middle 90% of the time. Does anyone have any tips playing around with the scoop to adjust it?

Did a comparison of a home made LE translite and the original. You can see how much more vibrant the colors are in the original.

Translite 3 (resized).jpg

There is a less-than-perfect insurance policy Premium/LE owners can implement prior to a lasting solution to Node 10 problems. Disable both the clock and ramp in the settings. The ramp will stay up at all times, and I believe the software compensates for this (just like on the Pro models). Not ideal, but perhaps some peace-of-mind until a better solution arrives.

Interesting. However, my ramp is currently in the down position. I need the node 10 to be working in order to get the ramp up, do I not? Anyhow, I will give it a try later today.

Adjust the power setting for the scoop and make sure that you have the ball save turned.

I want to upgrade to a premium and they are reasonable on secondary market but until this Node 10 is resolved I just can't do it.

Ya know what…My sense is they’ve got it dialed in. I don’t understand the “tech” side of what was originally causing the issue but that was solved by adding (again, a tech gizmo) and making a power adjustment. The more recent issues seem to be caused by:
-loose connections of power supply connectors to and from the board
-overtightened zip ties in a few wire bundles.

Mine was a loose connection...one pin connector not fully seeded. But, my distributor was great…worked with Stern and I had a replacement (no charge) in 3 days. Made the swap and haven’t had an issue since. If you find one you’re interested in, ask the seller for details on its node 10 board (with pics). Also, specifics on the build date.

My node 10 board went out last weekend. Had my disto put in a warranty on Monday. Have not heard anything yet but I do think is pretty crappy that Stern won’t sent MJK-911 a new board. He didn’t over tighten the zip tie, I’m kinda at a loss why they won’t provide a new harness and board if that is what they are claiming is the problem.

That really sucks man, hope you get your pins back up and running soon.

Perhaps Stern and your distributor are still verifying serial #, ownership, and warranty info? If you haven’t heard back from your distributor, reach out and see where they’re at in the process.

Frankly, I was stressed (and a little pissed) over the situation. But, both Stern and my disto we’re really good at copying me on all the correspondence. Has your distributor looped you in on the communications with Stern?

I’m not familiar with MJK-911’s situation other than the post above.
The wiring harness isn’t something Stern has claimed as a cause. That, and the fully seeded connections were cited as common factors by other owners who experienced more recent board failures.
When I was trying to find out “what’d I do wrong or what can I do to prevent the board from failing in the future?” Here’s the info I got back from my Stern tech:

“Hey Bill,
The best advice I can give is to remember that electronic components can fail, but in this case our engineers toned down a part of the game that they believe was over driving the board to prevent this issue from reoccurring. This isn't necessarily a fail safe, but it is designed to alleviate the issue that you experienced.
If you have any other issues in the future, please reach out and we'll be more than glad to assist.”

Another pinsider suggested I check for ANY loose connections or plugs (I believe he indicated that can cause a momentary drop or spike in current; thus frying the board).

Please keep us posted. Hopefully, you’ll get some resolution soon.
Bill

Cover your scoop with tape so you don't scratch it. Take a needle nose and try bending left, right, up, down until ball doesn't go SDTM anymore...

This is the way.

It's not that hard.. 2 people always though.

You were very brave to do this. Sorry to hear about the GZ now though. 2 amazing pins dead is very painful.

Not overly concerned, but I would love a 3 day turn around as we will be entertaining for the holidays and I would live to have all my pins up and running. I have historically found Sterns correspondence with warranty/fixes spotty at best, it’s refreshing that they were spot on with you.

The wiring harness addresses stern stance that failures have been a result damaged wires due to overly tight zip ties.

OSUBuckeye98
Oh man! I can absolutely relate to “out of order” anxiety when you’re expecting company. (7 days before all the kids were coming home from college. FINALLY they get to experience what the “old man” has been so excited about….buzzzzzz. Cooked.)

Keep up the dialogue with your distributor. Hang in there brother!

In case anyone is looking for a Rush LE, I have a never opened BNIB #6 for sale. I just lowered the price again, and I think it's fair given the never opened state and being a #6.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/145414

I hope this isn't considered an intrusion into the group.

Thanks, Paul

I think you are priced fair. If I had the extra $$ to burn I'd be all over it. Especially with a low #

Can you buy a spare node 10 from Stern, or is that out of the question? Pretty sure I’m gonna turn the ramp and clock off in the settings tomorrow. Been lucky so far from the sounds of it.

Hit up Borygard with a PM. He fixes some Node boards. For Node10, it might boil down to does he know what that chip is and can he get parts.

Your GZ node10 board is likely at risk in RUSH, though. There's something about RUSH code or assembly under specific circumstances that is blowing up the boards. It's happened too much to be coincidence. The only thing worse than a blown Node 10 board is TWO blown Node 10 boards.

Is there anything we can do to prevent the node 10 board from having issues? Thanks.

There are posts about correcting the ramp up to time machine gap by adjusting the screws which attach the *ramp* assembly. Has anyone instead attempted to move the time machine assembly itself slightly closer to the ramp? Since the time machine is always secured in a fixed position, if there were the ability to move it closer to the ramp while it’s up, it might be a more reliable solution. Thoughts?

I asked Stern Support about the gap and this is a suggestion which was posed by them. Not sure exactly how to accomplish moving or tilting the time machine slightly forward but I wonder if it’s worth trying? I don’t believe I have seen anyone mention that option in this forum. Thoughts?

As others have mentioned, I don’t mind that much when the ball gets hung up there during multiball. However, when it happens during single ball play, it disrupts the flow of the game badly. Either you sing along with song playing while waiting for the ball search to kick in or you tilt to get it off sooner. For now on my machine, this is the only issue during gameplay that doesn’t have a solid solution.

I’m also guessing the Stern won’t likely come out with a formal solution that involves a service kit since there are likely a large number of Premium/LE machines in use.

Make sure connections are all good. I also cut the zip ties for the ramp stepper motor because the zip tie is so tight it was cutting into the insulation. I then put some electrical tape around each wire where the zip tie was and then zip tied the bunch back together but not near as tight. Do the same for the clock if you find any tight and pinching zip ties. The electrical engineer in me says a lot of these issues are because of these wiring harnesses with such tiny wires and insulation and then being over stressed by zip ties that are way too tight.

You probably want to also inspect rub points with the wires along the ramps. The insulation is incredibly thin on the wiring and wears away quickly. Make sure the movement of the ramp has not stripped away the insulation.

Yes for sure. Good point.

Nothing concrete that I'm aware of. Just a lot of voodoo to this point. The biggest recommendation is to check connections and relieve stress/crimp points in the wiring to and from the board. But there's no guarantee that's the magic bullet. It's a pretty crazy situation for something that's so hard to get even warranty replacements for.

I don't know the architecture, but does the Node 10 board need to do anything if you lock the ramp up, and disconnect the clock? If not, ideally an error message would be raised, and play can continue.

Or design a board that does nothing, beyond lying to the main board: "Yes, I am Node 10, all is good".

Pretty sure it just runs the clock and the ramp. If you get the ramp up and disconnect it and the clock, then disable them in the menu, it should play ok (I guess try it and report, I don't have a RUSH anymore to test this). Not sure how the software will compensate for the loss of the down-ramp opto "target" not being available in that config, though.

I figure the clock is mostly decorative whereas the ramp is functional, so perhaps try psysically unplugging the clock but leaving the ramp connected, then see what happens? Just in case the issue only happens when both operate at the same time.

The clock keeps time on headlong flight multiball. It's the hardest one for me to get to, takes a lot of pop bumper hits, so it's kind of needed. I've had no #10 issues yet, don't even want to look at the board or wiring

Does the game require the clock be connected though for the mode to work?

I am a tad jealous! Mine is out and in the queue of owners waiting for a new board. Unfortunately, some have been waiting 2 months apparently.

I have a question for those in the know of how code updates function. Can a code update be applied to somehow deal with the node 10 board issue?

So I have done every fix and dial’ing possible my pro. It’s shooting pretty decent now. The currently problem I’m seeing is the spinner itself is rejecting balls straight back. The bottom of the spinner is now deformed from these direct hits. It almost seems like it’s just a bit too high. Anyone have any suggestions ? Im not looking for the ninja camp spinner protector per say. I don’t know if that would help to increase the overall profile of the gate or if I need to lower the gate/buy a different bracket that lowers the gate. Then I will have to worry about the opto not registering ? I’m getting frustrated as I have poured hours of my time and money into getting this machine to shoot decently.

I would not under any circumstances unplug either the clock or ramp and turn the game on. This is a known cause of node 10 board failures. If the node 10 board is present in your game, it needs to connected to both motors at all times.

The proper way to disable the clock is via the menu under game specific settings.

I ran into this on a different game -- on that one, the little arm(s) coming off the spinner were bent a little, which caused it to sit off balance and was "rotated" slightly so the bottom edge was toward the player too much. I needed to bend the arms back so they're coming straight out of the spinner, not sticking off at an angle. Check your arms to see how they look.

Exaggerated example:

pasted_image (resized).png

The spinner support is not bent or deformed in any way.

Oh wow so just disconnecting the clock and turning the machine will blow up the node board? I had no idea that was even possible, ok never mind then.

Don't even taunt the node 10 board.

Success!!! Out of the garage, up the stairs and I'm ready!
It's .97 so I'm going to update up 1.02 later today.
My first Stern, I had to learn how to do that. YouTube Shows that and I have a USB stick with the files on there so ready to do it that way.
It appears I could also do this update with insider connected by Wi-Fi? True? For life of me I can't figure out how to do insider connected. It's not intuitive to me and there is no troubleshooting. I thought it would be simple. I created an account I'm scanning my little QR code on there pin. It's not recognizing it. Do I have to enable IC or something in settings? I am a total stern noob.
PXL_20221218_024346366 (resized).jpg

You have to connect IC to your wifi in order to scan your code.

There is a network section service menu.

Thanks I should have mentioned this that I did connect to my Wi-Fi successfully. When I go to insider connected it says on the pinball screen to scan the QR code or go to the web address and I've already gone to the web addressing created the account but the pinball machine is not recognizing the fact that I'm holding a QR code in front of the scanner. It's not lighting up it's not making a beep It's not doing anything that I would expect it to do if a QR code got in range of the scanner on the pinball machine.

And by the way the QR code I'm holding up is the little square card that came with the pinball machine. I'm not using my phone or anything like that. I couldn't find a insider connected application from the Play store. So I'm assuming I have to either use a picture on my phone or the actual card that came with the pinball machine

After awhile Rush still continues to be one of my favorites right now! Hell of a game and a rush(pun intended)