Bandit supplies Cary Town Hall with Canto Retro
- Details
Cailen Waddell (program supervisor of technical operations for the Town of Cary) was charged with finding a solution for the chamber. Cailen’s extensive background in audio, visual, and lighting production made him keenly aware of the challenge to find a quality retrofit that would dim smoothly on camera, operate at precise low levels without flickering during council meetings, and integrate with the current lighting controls.
Adding to the pressure, the town had recently identified lamp replacements in the Council Chambers as high-risk and potentially hazardous. Maintenance staff were having to change lamps over seating risers, and the slope of the riser system complicated maintenance. The town needed to act quickly, but it also needed to be the right long-term solution.
To explore fixture, control, and logistical options, Cailen called on Bandit Lites’ Andrew Fisher with the Charlotte office. Cailen and Andrew explored replacing luminaires with wireless, wired, and line-voltage dimming options; however, the labour to install new luminaires and costs to update the architectural control system were quickly adding up to put the project overbudget.
The Town of Cary needed an LED screw-in retrofit that would outperform their current Halogen lamps while offering the same line-voltage dimming curve and light quality. The team at Canto USA had been steadily working in the background towards the exact solution Cary needed. When Cailen and Andrew reached out to Shawn Harmon of Canto USA, they were surprised to find out that their new Retro line of fixtures had more than doubled in output.
Ultimately, the Town of Cary utilized 20 Retro-Classic’s, all at 2700 Kelvin CCT. The Retro series worked flawlessly with their current dimming system, installed in the existing mini-candelabra sockets, and offered a variety of lenses and lamp extensions to make sure that the beam spreads were spot-on and the lamp fit perfectly in the luminaire and minimized glare.
“Not only did the lighting look perfect, Canto USA went above and beyond on this project,” said Andrew, “They worked with Cary to send out lamp and lens samples, they swapped out lensing as-needed, and they supported the project at every step of the process. I can’t say enough about the customer service at Canto USA.”
