Stern SPIKE™ System Repair

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1 Stern SPIKE™ System Repair

1.1 Introduction

The SPIKE™ System is the current board system used by Stern Pinball. The first full production game to use the SPIKE Board Set was Wrestlemania in 2015. The SPIKE architecture is a large departure from prior board set architectures. Per Stern, "The SPIKE Pinball system is rugged, distributed, and embedded platform custom-designed for the rigors of the pinball machine environment".

The SPIKE system is comprised of "nodes" that are powered from a 48VDC power bus. Each SPIKE "node" will regulate this 48VDC down to the proper voltage required to operate the "devices" under control of that node (lamps, coils, etc). Nodes are connected with standard CAT 5e (or better) 8 conductor Ethernet wiring although the interface protocol is not Ethernet, and connecting a SPIKE note to computer Ethernet will damage the board (per Stern).

1.2 Games

• Wrestlemania
• KISS

1.3 Technical Info

1.3.2 Recommended Documentation

As always, it is highly recommended to possess a game manual. Every game manual is full of detailed information regarding game specific switch, lamp, and coil assignments. Equally, details for maneuvering through test, audit, and bookkeeping screen menus, schematics for all boards used, and game specific mechanical assemblies are included.

1.4 Problems and Solutions

1.4.7 Display problems

Starting with Pirates of the Caribbean (a S.A.M. board set game), Stern replaced the normal Plasma Dot Matrix Display on European models with an LED variant because of the RoHS law. They first used PinLED DMDs, and later, switched to a red DMD specifically made for them (520-5052-05). The debate which looks better will be going on for your remaining lifetime and continue right into your next few lives.

1.4.7.1 LED DMD bad vertical line

Stern bad LED DMD

If a game is always showing a semi-bright vertical line on the DMD, usually one of the LED segments is bad. Fortunately the bad segment can be found easily. As shown in the picture to the left, one pixel in the line is always dark. This 8x8 segment is the bad guy and needs to be replaced. The good thing is that this problem usually occurs with NIB games just after a few hours or days of game play so the DMD is still under warranty. If not, ask Stern for the availability of the LED segments. When replacing a block, be advised that the vias are small and are difficult to remove without the proper equipment.

1.4.9 Flipper problems

See Common Flipper Troubleshooting for general flipper information.