The RETRO Series made its first international appearance at Methodist Ladies’ College in Claremont, Western Australia. The RETRO Series installation in Australia upgraded the house lights in Hadley Hall while allowing the college to retain much of the existing lighting infrastructure.
Canto USA’s RETRO Series LED retrofit kits have been used in schools, churches, museums, and performance venues across the United States. At Methodist Ladies’ College, the same retrofit approach gave the venue a way to move to LED without replacing the entire house-light system.
RETRO Series Installation in Australia at Hadley Hall
Doug worked with Darren Irving of LIDA Industries, Canto USA’s representative in Australia, to evaluate retrofit options for Hadley Hall.
One of the biggest advantages of the RETRO Series was that much of the existing fixtures and cabling could remain in use. Instead of replacing the complete house-light system or adding an entirely new control setup, the project focused on updating the light sources and completing the electrical work required for the retrofit.
The project replaced twenty 250-watt discharge fixtures with RETRO units. The new lighting provided smooth 0–100% dimming and consistent color temperature without requiring new DMX or DALI control wiring for the house lights.
The team removed the old ballasts and converted the E40 lamp bases to E27 bases. That work proved important once an issue with the older lamp bases surfaced during installation.
Working Through the Installation Challenges
Accessing the overhead house lights required scaffolding, which added time to the hands-on portion of the project.
Early in the installation, six RETRO units failed. The problem was traced to power anomalies connected with older lamp bases. Once the E40 bases were converted to E27 and the necessary electrical work was completed, the failures stopped.
Including the lamp-base work, the full upgrade took 15 days.
Doug also noted the support Darren Irving provided throughout the project, from early questions through installation and troubleshooting. That communication was particularly useful once the team began resolving issues connected to Hadley Hall’s older lighting infrastructure.
Better Dimming and More Consistent House Lighting
After the system was commissioned, staff reported more even lighting across the hall, consistent color temperature from fixture to fixture, and easier dimming control.
Doug summed up one of the biggest changes simply:
“I LOVE the dimming curve.”
The result addressed several problems the venue had been dealing with before the retrofit. Hadley Hall gained smoother dimming and more consistent lighting without having to rebuild the entire house-light system.
For Methodist Ladies’ College, the RETRO Series installation in Australia showed how an existing venue can move to LED while continuing to use much of the infrastructure already in place.
“The RETRO always makes a significant difference to the lighting in every install,” said John Luhrs of Canto USA, “You really have to appreciate the fantastic dimming curve and the uniform color temperature they provide.”
Installation lessons and recommendations
Based on the Hadley Hall project, consider these practical points when planning a RETRO Series retrofit:
- Survey lamp bases and ballasts before ordering parts — older lamp bases (E40) may need conversion to E27 and ballasts may need removal.
- Plan for scaffolding or other safe access when houselights are overhead; access time can extend the hands-on schedule.
- Coordinate early with your Canto USA representative or local installer to troubleshoot power or control anomalies during commissioning.
- Allow time in the schedule for electrical work and re-basing; in this project the total upgrade (including base conversion) took 15 days.
See another example of a RETRO retrofit at Cross City Church to compare installation approaches and outcomes: House Light Retrofit at Cross City Church.
Canto USA’s RETRO Series Fully Dimmable LED Retrofit Houselights
Canto USA is proud to present our RETRO series. The RETRO-Fusion® 2.0 and RETRO-Passive® 2.0 are 0–100% phase dimmable (forward and reverse) variable wattage LED engines designed to work with older SCR, TRIAC, and IGBT dimmers as well as newer dimmer systems. A direct replacement of existing lamps, the LED retrofit can be adapted to a wide range of fixtures. Custom and standard mounting options are available.
