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The Surge - Volume 1, Issue
6 - September 2003
LED Technology for Sign Use by Greg Kent, RSI Power, Inc. For the last two years, LED applications have taken great strides. The technology brings so many benefits to the table that many traditions will change, just like they did with neon. Like all new technologies, not all versions will develop to maturity. Several companies offer LED cluster lighting that can generate millions of color changes randomly and/or are controlled to create various colored lighting effects. There are at least six companies offering versions of LED systems that illuminate letters and even border tubes. However, not all LED systems are equal in their presentation or mounting recommendations. Class 2 SLD series power supplies and SCC series constant current drivers resulted from the monumental industry changes mandated by the UL. These products allow you to purchase or manufacture highly cost-efficient LED signage. Most importantly, these new power products allow you to provide UL compliant solutions to your customers. One of the most attractive and important benefits of LED lighting technology is its energy efficiency. In order for an LED lighting system to provide the greatest efficiency and reliability, the power source (the lifeblood of the LED) must also be energy efficient. SCC series constant current drivers are highly efficient switched mode current drivers and provide a wealth of benefits for LED lighting tasks. Their typical applications include LED Channel Sign and Backlighting (including decorative/architectural lighting), theater lighting, and LED commercial lighting. These products are RSI and Nu-Power’s technological contribution to the growing LED industry. When you purchase these products for your own lighting applications, you are helping the industry reach a new maturity level. We appreciate your business; let’s keep America bright. I Bet You Didn't Know by Joshua Juarez, Inside Sales, RSI Power, Inc. My parents and grandmother come to Las Vegas to visit me and the slot machines at least twice a year. We go out, have some dinner, see the sights, and then my relatives get busy scrutinizing every one-armed bandit in site as they search for “The Right?nickel machine. My Grandmother has a funny way of evaluating whether or not any given slot machine will pay out: she places her hand on the screen. If it’s hot, than it should HIT soon. If it is cold, she goes on to the next one. My grandmother’s astute scientific observations aside, this got me thinking: just how does a slot machine know when to pay out? RSI Power, Inc. has a customer that purchases power supplies to refurbish slot machines. I figured he’d understand the mechanics of it all better than anyone, so I asked him how it’s done. RNG (Random Number Generator) The RNG is the brain of the slot machine. I knew from having worked at IGT (International Game Technology) in my past that the RNG computer chip is the thing that decides what numbers (read “symbols? show up on the winning line or lines for a slot machine, but I never quite understood how it goes about picking them. As it were, the RNG generates a value between 0 and 4 billion, which is then translated into a specific set of numbers that correspond to specific symbols on the reels. 4-billion is a number that is a little beyond our ability to comprehend, so for demonstration purposes, we’ll talk numbers that make sense to demonstrate how an RNG works. Let’s say on a given slot machine that there are three reels with 10 different symbols on each. That means there are 1,000 possible and unique combinations (10 x 10 x 10) for this particular slot machine (typical slot machines have 22 symbols to a reel, just fyi). In our sample then, the odds of a specific 3 number combination being “hit? are one in a thousand. It stands to reason then, that if you spin the slot machine’s reels 1,000 times, you should hit the jackpot once. However, be aware in that last sentence that the operative word is “should? not “will? Here’s the catch: while it sounds reasonable to assume you’ll hit a specific 3 number combo in our example after 1,000 spins, there is no guarantee that it will show up in those 1,000 spins. Every spin is independent of another and every spin gives you the same chance of hitting: 1 in a 1,000. Think of it this way: if you flip a quarter in the air, you know that there is a 50/50 chance of it landing on either the heads or tails side. If you flipped that quarter one hundred times, the probability of it landing once on heads, then once on tails, then once on heads, etc. is the same as having it land on tails every time, even though having it land on tails each time sounds far less likely. This statistical logic also applies to the RNG computer chip. The chances of hitting the top jackpot are figured out in the same way as our example above: the RNG generates a number combination that is assigned to a specific combination of symbols. For most slot machines, hitting the super jackpot is a 1-in-a-few-billion chance. As for hitting any payout combination, those odds are determined by casino management. The Casino’s themselves decide how often slot machines should payout, and they set those percentages by increasing or decreasing that probability via the RNG. Most slot machines pay out 97% or 94%. However, no one can dictate (or predict) when a machine may hit. A specific machine might payout 500% today, and then nothing for a whole year: it’s all a function of the RNG. When you think of it in these terms, you can understand that anybody hitting a jackpot is truly just luck of the draw. RSI's "Just for Fun": Engineers and the Eternal Five surgeons were taking a coffee break. The first surgeon said, "Accountants are the best to operate on because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered." The second surgeon said, "Nah, librarians are the best. Everything inside them is in alphabetical order." The third surgeon responded, "Try electricians! Everything inside them is color coded." Then the fourth doctor interceded, "I prefer lawyers. They're heartless, spineless and gutless." To which the fifth surgeon, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, replied, "I like engineers. They always understand when you have a few parts left over at the end." Contacting RSI Power, Inc. To contact RSI Power, Inc., you can visit us on the web at www.rsipower.com or at the address and phone number below. RSI Power 2760 Lake Sahara Drive Suite 106 Las Vegas, NV 89117 Toll Free: 877.804.1142 Fax: 800.286.9538  (877)804-1142 Copyright 2004, RSI Power, Incorporated 4710 W. 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