August 27, 2025 • 8 mins
This episode explores ETC’s newly launched F-Drive RX, a centralized, low-voltage LED driver that promises to revolutionize lighting design and maintenance. Chris and Lacy break down its key features, compatibility, and the game-changing impact it could have for installers and venues
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:19):
Welcome back to Geezers of Gear Future Tech I'm Chris, and as
always, I've got Lacey here withme.
Today we're diving into ETC's latest bit of kit, the F Drive
RX, and why it's stirring thingsup in the lighting world.
So, Laci, you've seen all sorts of wild installs over the years.
What did you make of this when you first heard about it?
(00:39):
Honestly, Chris, when you first mentioned a rack mountable LED
driver, my brain went straight to that sounds, well,
intimidating. But after looking into it, it's
not intimidating at all. This thing's all about keeping
it central. You stick the F drive RX in your
rack and suddenly you've got control over basically any LED
(00:59):
you want, and it all runs on CAT6.
That's wild, right? Exactly.
The days of crawling around old ceilings searching for dodgy
little drivers buried above plasterboard.
They could be over. I remember this was, oh, ten
years ago now. I had to squeeze into a crawl
space, proper Mission Impossiblestyle in this historic theater
(01:21):
just to replace 1 failed driver.It took hours and believe me,
nobody looked dignified in the process.
With the F drive RX, all your guts are in the rack.
You drive constant current, constant voltage, and novice
fixtures up to 2800 watts all through output cards that just
slot in it's. I mean, it's almost too easy.
(01:43):
What blows my mind is it's not just for fancy Navi stuff.
If I'm reading the docs right, you can run everything from high
end architectural down to humbleLED tape.
Right you are. Mix and match.
If you've got those lovely ETC luminaires, perfect.
But if your designer went on a wild shopping spree, inspect a
dozen types, you're still sortedall from one rack and no high
(02:07):
voltage lines threading the space.
So places with tight install rules, schools, old buildings,
cruise ships, they can get creative without an electrician
on speed dial or chasing random drivers up in the ceiling tiles.
That's a huge bonus. And the form factor is sort of
elegant too, right? Just A2U enclosure for the
driver, one U for the power. Doesn't eat up much rack space.
(02:30):
My old AV techs would have lovedthat.
Yeah, it's neat and tidy, and itfeels like an evolution from
what we've talked about before with, say, the site link or the
rig POV. Putting all the brains where you
can actually get to them insteadof sending folks spelunking
behind walls or rigging simple, clever stuff.
So jumping off that, the installation side is what I'm
(02:51):
really curious about. I mean, CAT6 is everywhere these
days in conferences, ships, retail, you name it.
So basically you just snake these cables out and plug right
into your fixtures. No high voltage conduit or like
those endless lockout tag out worksheets.
Exactly. All the power and control
protocol goes down. Standard CAT6 since we're
(03:13):
talking low voltage. No more wrestling with conduit,
bent knuckles, or fiddly high voltage sign offs and
maintenance. Piece of cake.
Let's say a channel's acting up on an output card.
Anyone trained up, even a facilities tech, can swap that
card hot. You don't need an electrician
just to keep your lights on. It's safe to work on even during
(03:33):
open hours. If you can terminate a network
cable, you're basically halfway there.
That is such a game changer for big hotels or venues with lots
of events stacked up or even oh let me tell you about this one
show. We had a ballroom full of
corporate types and someone decided at 10 in the morning
that they wanted all the ceilingfixtures swapped out.
We spent hours waiting on sign offs and electricians and
(03:57):
honestly my team missed lunch because we were running around
like maniacs. If it had been centralized like
this with everything. Rack mount, modular, hot
swappable, would have been done in an hour, probably less.
No drama, no downtime. I can just picture you
corralling the texts. Don't break anything.
Expensive, but yeah, it's the way of the future, right?
(04:18):
I suppose a building's existing cable trays could just be used,
and because it's low voltage you're not as boxed in by the
local codes. Maintenance can finally be
handled properly by the in houseteam, not just brought in
specialists. And that keeps everything
humming along, even if you're halfway through a trade show or
conference week. And for cruise ships or those
(04:39):
all day conference centers wheretheir schedules leave 0 room for
downtime, this seems kind of, I don't know, necessary?
Not just a nice to have anymore.Feels like a whole chunk of
install hassle just falls away. Which I love because everyone's
got better things to do than chase a burnt out LED behind an
AV wall at 2:00 AM. Couldn't agree more.
(05:00):
From a maintenance perspective, it's night and day.
And it's not just about convenience.
It's safer. Nobody's hunting for hidden
power supplies, nobody's tripping Breakers or shutting
down the whole rig for a quick card swap.
Now here's where it ramps up versatility.
The F drive RX isn't picky, is it?
You've got constant current cards, constant voltage fade to
(05:23):
warm, and soon there'll be chroma cards for even more
tricks. That means anything from Etc's
range, but also most third partyLEDs.
And those output cards are all hot swappable. 1 box covers
pretty much the lot. And the emergency stuff really
makes it a serious central brain.
Because it's UL 924 listed, you can hook it into emergency
(05:43):
lighting right? If the building needs load
shedding or auto switchover during a power blip, you don't
have to try to do that complicated hack of keeping a
couple LEDs on and turning others off.
It just does it safely and cleanly.
Exactly. You can support emergency looks
so it becomes part of a coherentemergency design instead of an
afterthought. And with load shedding built in,
(06:06):
you're compliant with codes, you're safe, and you get Peace
of Mind. That's especially critical in
places like schools or retail. But to me, the creative
flexibility is almost more interesting when you aren't
saddled with whatever driver youcan fit behind the drywall.
Suddenly a whole world of fixture options opens up.
More colours, better dimming. Your imagination actually gets
(06:28):
to go wild. I'm just thinking this gives so
much more control to design teams, especially those on a
budget or without a dedicated lighting expert on site.
I mean, maybe your facilities crew isn't up for redoing high
voltage, but CAT6 that's doable.You're not blocked by a lack of
specialists or dealing with restrictive tech behind the
scenes. Spot on, and for environments
(06:50):
where installs have to last, like themed environments or
education spaces, it's future proof too.
You want to add new fixtures next year?
Maybe some crazy chroma stuff. When it's out, just slot in a
new card and go. It's that simple.
There's a bit of a debate in theindustry I know about losing the
arts of the weird workaround, but honestly I'd rather see
(07:12):
folks focusing on design, not duct tape solutions to ancient
infrastructure. Amen to that.
Well, Chris, I think it's safe to say the F Drive RX isn't just
another box in the rack. It's a bit of a rethink for how
we approach LED installs, particularly for teams that
don't want to be up on a ladder all day or locked in a
maintenance closet. Yeah, it's proper smart stuff,
(07:34):
and if this is where ET CS headed, I reckon we'll see other
manufacturers trying to catch up.
But hey, we'll cover more futureproof gear and stories, good and
bad, in our next episode. Lacey, always a pleasure diving
in with you. Same, Chris, thanks for keeping
me honest on the tech terms and thanks to everyone tuning in.
Catch us next time on Geezers ofGear Future Tech.
(07:56):
Cheers everyone, take care and keep the gear in the rack, not
in the ceiling. See you next episode.
Want to scoop on gear? Future Tech is here.
Come on, then. We make the specs so clear.
Oh La La with music to your ears.
(08:20):
Hey, hey, hey. Let's go.
New gear vibes, new tech jive gear hits unite.
We keep it live.
Welcome back to Geezers of Gear Future Tech I'm Chris, and as
always, I've got Lacey here withme.
Today we're diving into ETC's latest bit of kit, the F Drive
RX, and why it's stirring thingsup in the lighting world.
So, Laci, you've seen all sorts of wild installs over the years.
What did you make of this when you first heard about it?
(00:39):
Honestly, Chris, when you first mentioned a rack mountable LED
driver, my brain went straight to that sounds, well,
intimidating. But after looking into it, it's
not intimidating at all. This thing's all about keeping
it central. You stick the F drive RX in your
rack and suddenly you've got control over basically any LED
(00:59):
you want, and it all runs on CAT6.
That's wild, right? Exactly.
The days of crawling around old ceilings searching for dodgy
little drivers buried above plasterboard.
They could be over. I remember this was, oh, ten
years ago now. I had to squeeze into a crawl
space, proper Mission Impossiblestyle in this historic theater
(01:21):
just to replace 1 failed driver.It took hours and believe me,
nobody looked dignified in the process.
With the F drive RX, all your guts are in the rack.
You drive constant current, constant voltage, and novice
fixtures up to 2800 watts all through output cards that just
slot in it's. I mean, it's almost too easy.
(01:43):
What blows my mind is it's not just for fancy Navi stuff.
If I'm reading the docs right, you can run everything from high
end architectural down to humbleLED tape.
Right you are. Mix and match.
If you've got those lovely ETC luminaires, perfect.
But if your designer went on a wild shopping spree, inspect a
dozen types, you're still sortedall from one rack and no high
(02:07):
voltage lines threading the space.
So places with tight install rules, schools, old buildings,
cruise ships, they can get creative without an electrician
on speed dial or chasing random drivers up in the ceiling tiles.
That's a huge bonus. And the form factor is sort of
elegant too, right? Just A2U enclosure for the
driver, one U for the power. Doesn't eat up much rack space.
(02:30):
My old AV techs would have lovedthat.
Yeah, it's neat and tidy, and itfeels like an evolution from
what we've talked about before with, say, the site link or the
rig POV. Putting all the brains where you
can actually get to them insteadof sending folks spelunking
behind walls or rigging simple, clever stuff.
So jumping off that, the installation side is what I'm
(02:51):
really curious about. I mean, CAT6 is everywhere these
days in conferences, ships, retail, you name it.
So basically you just snake these cables out and plug right
into your fixtures. No high voltage conduit or like
those endless lockout tag out worksheets.
Exactly. All the power and control
protocol goes down. Standard CAT6 since we're
(03:13):
talking low voltage. No more wrestling with conduit,
bent knuckles, or fiddly high voltage sign offs and
maintenance. Piece of cake.
Let's say a channel's acting up on an output card.
Anyone trained up, even a facilities tech, can swap that
card hot. You don't need an electrician
just to keep your lights on. It's safe to work on even during
(03:33):
open hours. If you can terminate a network
cable, you're basically halfway there.
That is such a game changer for big hotels or venues with lots
of events stacked up or even oh let me tell you about this one
show. We had a ballroom full of
corporate types and someone decided at 10 in the morning
that they wanted all the ceilingfixtures swapped out.
We spent hours waiting on sign offs and electricians and
(03:57):
honestly my team missed lunch because we were running around
like maniacs. If it had been centralized like
this with everything. Rack mount, modular, hot
swappable, would have been done in an hour, probably less.
No drama, no downtime. I can just picture you
corralling the texts. Don't break anything.
Expensive, but yeah, it's the way of the future, right?
(04:18):
I suppose a building's existing cable trays could just be used,
and because it's low voltage you're not as boxed in by the
local codes. Maintenance can finally be
handled properly by the in houseteam, not just brought in
specialists. And that keeps everything
humming along, even if you're halfway through a trade show or
conference week. And for cruise ships or those
(04:39):
all day conference centers wheretheir schedules leave 0 room for
downtime, this seems kind of, I don't know, necessary?
Not just a nice to have anymore.Feels like a whole chunk of
install hassle just falls away. Which I love because everyone's
got better things to do than chase a burnt out LED behind an
AV wall at 2:00 AM. Couldn't agree more.
(05:00):
From a maintenance perspective, it's night and day.
And it's not just about convenience.
It's safer. Nobody's hunting for hidden
power supplies, nobody's tripping Breakers or shutting
down the whole rig for a quick card swap.
Now here's where it ramps up versatility.
The F drive RX isn't picky, is it?
You've got constant current cards, constant voltage fade to
(05:23):
warm, and soon there'll be chroma cards for even more
tricks. That means anything from Etc's
range, but also most third partyLEDs.
And those output cards are all hot swappable. 1 box covers
pretty much the lot. And the emergency stuff really
makes it a serious central brain.
Because it's UL 924 listed, you can hook it into emergency
(05:43):
lighting right? If the building needs load
shedding or auto switchover during a power blip, you don't
have to try to do that complicated hack of keeping a
couple LEDs on and turning others off.
It just does it safely and cleanly.
Exactly. You can support emergency looks
so it becomes part of a coherentemergency design instead of an
afterthought. And with load shedding built in,
(06:06):
you're compliant with codes, you're safe, and you get Peace
of Mind. That's especially critical in
places like schools or retail. But to me, the creative
flexibility is almost more interesting when you aren't
saddled with whatever driver youcan fit behind the drywall.
Suddenly a whole world of fixture options opens up.
More colours, better dimming. Your imagination actually gets
(06:28):
to go wild. I'm just thinking this gives so
much more control to design teams, especially those on a
budget or without a dedicated lighting expert on site.
I mean, maybe your facilities crew isn't up for redoing high
voltage, but CAT6 that's doable.You're not blocked by a lack of
specialists or dealing with restrictive tech behind the
scenes. Spot on, and for environments
(06:50):
where installs have to last, like themed environments or
education spaces, it's future proof too.
You want to add new fixtures next year?
Maybe some crazy chroma stuff. When it's out, just slot in a
new card and go. It's that simple.
There's a bit of a debate in theindustry I know about losing the
arts of the weird workaround, but honestly I'd rather see
(07:12):
folks focusing on design, not duct tape solutions to ancient
infrastructure. Amen to that.
Well, Chris, I think it's safe to say the F Drive RX isn't just
another box in the rack. It's a bit of a rethink for how
we approach LED installs, particularly for teams that
don't want to be up on a ladder all day or locked in a
maintenance closet. Yeah, it's proper smart stuff,
(07:34):
and if this is where ET CS headed, I reckon we'll see other
manufacturers trying to catch up.
But hey, we'll cover more futureproof gear and stories, good and
bad, in our next episode. Lacey, always a pleasure diving
in with you. Same, Chris, thanks for keeping
me honest on the tech terms and thanks to everyone tuning in.
Catch us next time on Geezers ofGear Future Tech.
(07:56):
Cheers everyone, take care and keep the gear in the rack, not
in the ceiling. See you next episode.
Want to scoop on gear? Future Tech is here.
Come on, then. We make the specs so clear.
Oh La La with music to your ears.
(08:20):
Hey, hey, hey. Let's go.
New gear vibes, new tech jive gear hits unite.
We keep it live.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.