FutureTech Featuring ETC - Centralizing LED Lighting with the F-Drive RX

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Welcome back to Geezers of Gear
Future Tech I'm Chris, and as

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always, I've got Lacey here with
me.

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Today we're diving into ETC's
latest bit of kit, the F Drive

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RX, and why it's stirring things
up in the lighting world.

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So, Laci, you've seen all sorts
of wild installs over the years.

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What did you make of this when
you first heard about it?

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Honestly, Chris, when you first
mentioned a rack mountable LED

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driver, my brain went straight
to that sounds, well,

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intimidating.
But after looking into it, it's

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not intimidating at all.
This thing's all about keeping

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it central.
You stick the F drive RX in your

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rack and suddenly you've got
control over basically any LED

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you want, and it all runs on
CAT6.

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That's wild, right?
Exactly.

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The days of crawling around old
ceilings searching for dodgy

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little drivers buried above
plasterboard.

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They could be over.
I remember this was, oh, ten

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years ago now.
I had to squeeze into a crawl

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space, proper Mission Impossible
style in this historic theater

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just to replace 1 failed driver.
It took hours and believe me,

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nobody looked dignified in the
process.

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With the F drive RX, all your
guts are in the rack.

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You drive constant current,
constant voltage, and novice

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fixtures up to 2800 watts all
through output cards that just

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slot in it's.
I mean, it's almost too easy.

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What blows my mind is it's not
just for fancy Navi stuff.

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If I'm reading the docs right,
you can run everything from high

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end architectural down to humble
LED tape.

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Right you are.
Mix and match.

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If you've got those lovely ETC
luminaires, perfect.

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But if your designer went on a
wild shopping spree, inspect a

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dozen types, you're still sorted
all from one rack and no high

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voltage lines threading the
space.

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So places with tight install
rules, schools, old buildings,

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cruise ships, they can get
creative without an electrician

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on speed dial or chasing random
drivers up in the ceiling tiles.

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That's a huge bonus.
And the form factor is sort of

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elegant too, right?
Just A2U enclosure for the

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driver, one U for the power.
Doesn't eat up much rack space.

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My old AV techs would have loved
that.

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Yeah, it's neat and tidy, and it
feels like an evolution from

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what we've talked about before
with, say, the site link or the

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rig POV.
Putting all the brains where you

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can actually get to them instead
of sending folks spelunking

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behind walls or rigging simple,
clever stuff.

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So jumping off that, the
installation side is what I'm

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really curious about.
I mean, CAT6 is everywhere these

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days in conferences, ships,
retail, you name it.

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So basically you just snake
these cables out and plug right

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into your fixtures.
No high voltage conduit or like

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those endless lockout tag out
worksheets.

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Exactly.
All the power and control

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protocol goes down.
Standard CAT6 since we're

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talking low voltage.
No more wrestling with conduit,

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bent knuckles, or fiddly high
voltage sign offs and

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maintenance.
Piece of cake.

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Let's say a channel's acting up
on an output card.

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Anyone trained up, even a
facilities tech, can swap that

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card hot.
You don't need an electrician

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just to keep your lights on.
It's safe to work on even during

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open hours.
If you can terminate a network

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cable, you're basically halfway
there.

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That is such a game changer for
big hotels or venues with lots

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of events stacked up or even oh
let me tell you about this one

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show.
We had a ballroom full of

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corporate types and someone
decided at 10 in the morning

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that they wanted all the ceiling
fixtures swapped out.

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We spent hours waiting on sign
offs and electricians and

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honestly my team missed lunch
because we were running around

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like maniacs.
If it had been centralized like

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this with everything.
Rack mount, modular, hot

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swappable, would have been done
in an hour, probably less.

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No drama, no downtime.
I can just picture you

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corralling the texts.
Don't break anything.

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Expensive, but yeah, it's the
way of the future, right?

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I suppose a building's existing
cable trays could just be used,

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and because it's low voltage
you're not as boxed in by the

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local codes.
Maintenance can finally be

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handled properly by the in house
team, not just brought in

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specialists.
And that keeps everything

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humming along, even if you're
halfway through a trade show or

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conference week.
And for cruise ships or those

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all day conference centers where
their schedules leave 0 room for

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downtime, this seems kind of, I
don't know, necessary?

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Not just a nice to have anymore.
Feels like a whole chunk of

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install hassle just falls away.
Which I love because everyone's

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got better things to do than
chase a burnt out LED behind an

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AV wall at 2:00 AM.
Couldn't agree more.

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From a maintenance perspective,
it's night and day.

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And it's not just about
convenience.

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It's safer.
Nobody's hunting for hidden

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power supplies, nobody's
tripping Breakers or shutting

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down the whole rig for a quick
card swap.

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Now here's where it ramps up
versatility.

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The F drive RX isn't picky, is
it?

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You've got constant current
cards, constant voltage fade to

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warm, and soon there'll be
chroma cards for even more

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tricks.
That means anything from Etc's

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range, but also most third party
LEDs.

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And those output cards are all
hot swappable. 1 box covers

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pretty much the lot.
And the emergency stuff really

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makes it a serious central
brain.

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Because it's UL 924 listed, you
can hook it into emergency

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lighting right?
If the building needs load

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shedding or auto switchover
during a power blip, you don't

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have to try to do that
complicated hack of keeping a

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couple LEDs on and turning
others off.

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It just does it safely and
cleanly.

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Exactly.
You can support emergency looks

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so it becomes part of a coherent
emergency design instead of an

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afterthought.
And with load shedding built in,

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you're compliant with codes,
you're safe, and you get Peace

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of Mind.
That's especially critical in

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places like schools or retail.
But to me, the creative

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flexibility is almost more
interesting when you aren't

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saddled with whatever driver you
can fit behind the drywall.

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Suddenly a whole world of
fixture options opens up.

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More colours, better dimming.
Your imagination actually gets

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to go wild.
I'm just thinking this gives so

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much more control to design
teams, especially those on a

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budget or without a dedicated
lighting expert on site.

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I mean, maybe your facilities
crew isn't up for redoing high

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voltage, but CAT6 that's doable.
You're not blocked by a lack of

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specialists or dealing with
restrictive tech behind the

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scenes.
Spot on, and for environments

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where installs have to last,
like themed environments or

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education spaces, it's future
proof too.

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You want to add new fixtures
next year?

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Maybe some crazy chroma stuff.
When it's out, just slot in a

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new card and go.
It's that simple.

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There's a bit of a debate in the
industry I know about losing the

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arts of the weird workaround,
but honestly I'd rather see

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folks focusing on design, not
duct tape solutions to ancient

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infrastructure.
Amen to that.

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Well, Chris, I think it's safe
to say the F Drive RX isn't just

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another box in the rack.
It's a bit of a rethink for how

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we approach LED installs,
particularly for teams that

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don't want to be up on a ladder
all day or locked in a

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maintenance closet.
Yeah, it's proper smart stuff,

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and if this is where ET CS
headed, I reckon we'll see other

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manufacturers trying to catch
up.

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But hey, we'll cover more future
proof gear and stories, good and

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bad, in our next episode.
Lacey, always a pleasure diving

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in with you.
Same, Chris, thanks for keeping

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me honest on the tech terms and
thanks to everyone tuning in.

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Catch us next time on Geezers of
Gear Future Tech.

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Cheers everyone, take care and
keep the gear in the rack, not

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in the ceiling.
See you next episode.

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