So in test it'll lower to the ramp and you can get T-Rex to open her mouth with the correct alignment but it won't do it in gameplay?

Is T-Rex lowering but simply not opening her mouth?

Correct. In diagnostics I have it lined up perfect but in the game it doesn’t move lower its head during applicable times.

Hmm got me scratching my head ...

Is the game still under warranty? Could you give Stern or your distributor a call?

Is it the original Trex? Or the Lior mod?

Original

I keep getting phantom turns of the helicopter blades, I noticed as my paddock bounties keep increasing when I don't hit that shot at all. I see the switch that registers that ramp but cant see an opto for the blades. I see on page 57 of the manual there is a helicopter sensor assembly and found that under the playfield but I don't really understand how it works, its not like the jeep with a piece of metal that blocks the opto. What do I need to adjust to fix the blades ghost registering? Thanks!

I bet it’s like the AIQ disc. It’s simply a black tab that sees the post spinning above it. I would make sure that is centered and also reseat the connector going to that board.

If I look up the hole from the back of the playfield there's no tab at all. There's a e-clip going round the spindle but I assume that's just keeping the spindle in place. Just cant figure out how this thing works at all!

There's a magnetic sensor board mounted on the underside of the playfield. I think the black post connected to the helicopter that rotates through the bottom of the playfield trips that sensor board. See page 57 of the manual under "5.47 Helicopter Sensor Assembly"

Thanks for the reply, i did find that in the manual and under the playfield (couple of posts before the one you quoted) I even removed it from the playfield but there’s no obvious adjustment that can be made on it

Yep it’s a different setup than AIQ. Seems like alignment might be the main way to adjust it. Here’s a pic of how mine is aligned in case it helps. I can take other angles too if you need.

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Thank you for the photo. I can’t look right now but from memory my spindle was more in the middle of that metal cut out if that makes sense. I’ll have a play later and take a pic if it’s still not working properly

I adjusted the sensor to be closer to the spindle and I think it’s fixed the problem, though it wasn’t happening every game so I need to play more to make sure. Seems a bit wrong that it needed to be closer, I’d think that was only the case if it wasn’t registering but I don’t really understand the mech! Before and after photos below. Hopefully it’s fixed, if not I guess I may need a new sensor.

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It may be a magnetic sensor, so proximity can make all the difference…

When you are retightening the captive ball when it gets loose (not the one connected to the truck that swings) how tight do you get it? It seems it is up agains the playfield so I do not want to overtightening and crack the clear coat.

Looking for Jurassic Park to trade my Tron LE for or outright buy. If anyone is tired of their LE please hit me up.

J

Ooooh, this is quite the proposition.

Is it moving at all towards the ramp? I would check to make sure the are no restrictions behind, also check the servo motor linkage for loose screws, parts and proper connections for all the plugs.. It may be a servo motor issue, bad board, loose connection... You're going to have to trouble shoot by the process of elimination

Could’ve been calibrated badly to start. Makes it so the item you want it to sense needs to be much closer than normal.

Question: when I play Escape from Nublar I see now that when I hit the truck it no longer changes the shots. It's that a setting in the game? The truck totally works in normal game play as I can start T-Rex and all of that. It's just for some reason when I play the Nublar Challenge it does nothing—but it used to.

Finally had a moment to make a custom roof mod for my second Premium. It's cost me about $10 and about 4 hours. I have provided a visual how-to for anyone that wishes to do something similar. Nothing beats a real bamboo roof in the jungle!

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Fun idea. I would consider staining it to give it a weathered look that would blend in better.

Competing against my 3D printed version I see | https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/108801

Seriously, well done.

Couple of suggestions:
- A light stain does give it a more weathered look. I actually give a lite rub of mine with a wood stain using a paper towel in a way that is an uneven application. I then coat with a spray can clear to lock the stain in. For some reason, doesn't really show up well in the photo.
- You need to do something about those exposed screws (the whole reason I created my roof mod for both the OEM & Mezel towers). I just use mounting tape on the inside peak of mine to adhere to the OEM plastics which covers the OEM screws, but you could also mount yours first in place of the OEM plastics then apply the straw pieces that go over the holes.
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Looking for advice on how to handle some chipping that I just noticed by the right ramp. What is the best way to prevent further damage? This is a December 2021 build and I am the 2nd owner.

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I would clean the area real well and paint the black back on. Brush a thin coat of clear. Give it a couple days to dry the add some Mylar to the area.

My gate sometimes does not reset or register when I turn the machine on. If I go into the menu and test it, it then resets and works perfectly for however many games I play. Any ideas on why it doesn't sometimes reset automatically? Thanks

Clean it, let it dry. Tape off the area close to the chip and apply Sally Hansen's Hard as nails clear POLISH (not nail strengthener) to arrest the chip from advancing. You can also mylar over the area if you want extra protection.

You are starting a game just a little too fast. Give it a couple more seconds time and the gate will register/come up.

LTG

Haha.

Hmm I’m not sure that’s the reason, apologies if it is. I’m sure it didn’t use to do this. Previously if I started a game before the gate had risen it would just rise as I plunged the first ball, which is what it still does on games after I have gone into the menu and reset it

I have the same issue occasionally and it has nothing to do with starting a game too fast. I've had the issue hours after the game was turned on (but not played). There's likely a switch sensitivity issue for the down position. I've also had the gate stop halfway up (or down).

Solution is always to go in test mode and make it move and then it's ok. You don't even lose the game you are in.

I'll report back as to a cause once I investigate further.

I would touchup with thin coats of black acrylic paint, dry, then put mylar over the area. No clear coat unless you’re comfortable with 2PAC. This can be undone later easily when it’s time to have the playfield properly restored.

Second owner on a December 2021 build? Who dumped this game that fast?

Also, I haven't been paying attention... Is stern still suffering from playfield issues often?

This is the first report I've seen for some time ... from a quick search of "chip" in the 2 JP threads the most recent post was from 7 months ago

Hey! I have had JP premium for 1.5 years and put a couple of thousand plays on it. Never had any issues until tonight…. Weird things started happening. Different sections of the play fiend would randomly go dark. T. rex didn’t move for 15 seconds at a time. Then the entire lower half of the platforms went dark. Lastly had all arrows randomly light up white then dark then white again. All this occurred during the course of a few games. I looked underneath and it seems like every wire is connect properly. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

Sounds like a node board freaking out. Did you get any overcurrent errors on the system menu?

No. I checked everything. Made sure everything was secure. Went through every test. Swapped out the main CPU board with another machine. Redownloaded the code on a new card. Keeps repeating itself no matter what. Seems like it’s in issue in the upper left part of the playfield. The r rex is acting strange and the arrows around the T. rex don’t light up in certain modes (but do light up in other modes, so it’s very hard to figure out)

You could swap node 8 and node 9 boards and see if the problem moves, then you would know it's a board issue, not a wiring or short issue. Be sure to change the dip switches to the new node numbers once you swap the boards so they know their new roles if you try it.

Ok I’ll try that. Thanks! Are the boards identical? How/where do I change the “dip switches “?

Yeah, node 8 and 9 are the same. The only difference is their address in the system, which is set by the dip switches and changes the function. You'll see the block of switches when you take the boards out. It's small, but hard to miss if you're looking at the board. The settings for each is in the manual, or you can just write down the positions of each then swap the settings.

Also, to be clear, do this swap with the POWER OFF.

Good Morning. I did something stupid and I need some help. I was installing an Insider Connected kit in my JP Premium. I pulled the playfield out and rested it on the rubber rests. I got distracted, and was out of the room for awhile, and when I came back in, I continued and actually pulled the playfield off the rails when lifting it upright. I got the playfield back into the rails and looked for damage. It appears the pop up rod that blocks the upper orbit, the device coil and bracket that hangs the lowest, landed on top of the speaker. Scratched the speaker housing a little, and required me to straighten that coil bracket a little. Other than that, no visible damage, so I continued on installing the kit. Finished everything, fired it up, everything updated, no problem. Went to start a game, went into ball search, stating balls no found. Went into trough test, optos don't register a ball at all. Verified all balls present. Looked for broken wires, dont see any. Still won't register balls. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Reseated all the ethernet cables and connectors associated with the Trough. No loose or broken wires that I can see. Ran thru all the coil tests and they are good. Node bus test good. Node board test does nothing. Highlight thr board, select it, speaker makes typical selection noise, then just does nothing. I'm at a loss.

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I literally have no idea where to go from here. I have reseated all ethernet cables in the entire machine. Reseated the Trough board cables and at their respective opposite ends. I updated the code prior to installing the kit, and it worked fine before installing the kit, and also my clumsiness. I have no idea what to do.

Have you tried getting support from Stern? Even if your machine is out of the warranty period, you were installing their Insider Connected kit and something has gone wrong, so I'd think they'd help you in troubleshooting where the issue is (they may not pay for the replacement of a failed component if it is not directly related to IC but they'd want to ensure people aren't have issues with retrofitting IC to their games).

Did you check connector CN14 on node board 8 (8 is the one near the flippers, not the one closer to the middle of the playfield). Pull it, look at the wires closely, and reseat it firmly.

Also, post a hi-res pic of your node 8 board and the node 8a board (on the opposite side).

Thank you @Pinmonk. I will do that as soon as I get home this evening.

Going to check a few more things tonight, and if no luck, will check with Stern Support. Thanks Manny65

Hello
First I thought I am dealing with a bad magnet. Now I found out after reading through the forum, that my trex does not do the chomp moves during trex multiball. She keeps her mouth just open and therefor loses the ball while swinging back to the right. I tried to give the jaw some more space with an exacto knife, but it didnt work so far. Any other suggestions or do I have ro slice more plastic?
Thank you guys.

Good Afternoon @PinMonk. Sorry for the delay, wasn't feeling well. Anyway, CN14 looks good. Reseated it a couple times.
The red leds light when there is a ball in there??? Maybe they are registering, and I'm looking at the wrong thing? There are 6 balls in the Trough, however whenever I try to start a game, it immediately goes into ball search, and says locating balls. When I do the Trough test, it shows 6 numbered circles like balls. And also for the one I'm thr shooter land. When I activate that shooter line wire trip switch, the ball on the trough test goes solid and the kicker fires. However when I put balls in the Trough, the circles remain just circles, not solid. I would suspect they go solid with a ball in there? Also, here's the 8 and 8a pictures.

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Try putting pressure on the 8a ball trough board connectors, pushing slightly on the big connector with the PF down and then pulling it while on that screen and see if the balls light up. Repeat with the small connector on the other side. And you're not pushing pulling the top of the connectors, but the side, just trying to see if a loose pin is preventing connection. It's pretty common with these boards for that to happen, especially on route.

Thank you @Pinmonk. Will do!

Good Morning PinMonk I tried applying pressure, and had no luck. When machine is on, and all 6 leds are lit, when manually kicking a ball out to the shooter lane, the left led goes out, and when the ball return, it comes back on, as it should. Just doesn't recognize thr balls are in there.