Town of Cary LED Retrofit — Council Chambers Case Study

The Town of Cary in North Carolina wanted to improve the lighting in its Council Chambers without replacing the existing fixtures or rebuilding the electrical system. The Town of Cary LED retrofit updated the house lights while keeping much of the existing equipment in place.

Three years after the original installation, the Canto USA RETRO fixtures were still performing well. Cailen Waddell, Program Supervisor of Technical Operations for the Town of Cary, and Andrew Fisher of Bandit Lites reported that the system continued to provide the light output and dimming performance the room needed.

At a glance: results and benefits

• Consistent, camera-friendly lighting for recorded and live meetings
• Smooth dimming with the existing control system
• Reduced routine maintenance and fewer person-hours required above steep seating risers
• In-house installation completed in approximately half a day without relocating fixtures or rewiring

Town of Cary LED Retrofit for the Council Chambers

The Council Chambers needed an LED retrofit that could provide wide coverage, strong output, and smooth dimming for a room used for both live and recorded meetings.

Maintenance was another important part of the decision. The existing houselights sat above steeply sloped seating risers, making routine lamp changes difficult and increasing the staff time required to reach the fixtures.

Rather than replacing the entire houselight system, the Town looked for an LED option that could work with the existing sockets, fixture locations, and dimming infrastructure.

Installing 20 RETRO-Classic Fixtures

The Town of Cary selected 20 RETRO-Classic fixtures at 2700K. The warm color temperature provided a look similar to the halogen lamps the new units replaced.

The RETRO units were installed directly into the existing mini-candelabra sockets and worked with the Council Chambers’ existing dimming system. The team handled the installation in-house, and it took about half a day.

Canto USA also worked with the project team to determine the correct lenses for the existing fixtures.

“Everything has been working great since the replacement,” said Waddell. “The factory was great about working with us to make sure we got the right lenses for the fixtures, so we haven’t had to make any changes since.”

Reducing Maintenance Above the Seating Area

For the Town of Cary, one of the biggest reasons for making the change was the amount of work involved in maintaining the house lights.

“Our biggest issue when finding the replacement was one of maintenance and man-hours accessing house lights over steeply raked seats and the aesthetic concerns of fixtures being out,” Waddell said. “The RETRO-Classic® addressed all those concerns.”

Because the existing fixture locations could remain in place, the Town did not have to redesign the room’s house-light layout. Moving away from frequently replaced halogen lamps also reduced the amount of routine work required above the steep seating area.

The original RETRO-Classic has since been discontinued and replaced by the current RETRO-Fusion® 2.0, which continues the RETRO approach with 0–100% phase dimming, custom mounting options, and compatibility with existing dimming systems.

Results Three Years After the Retrofit

Three years after installation, the Town of Cary continued to report positive results from the Council Chambers lighting upgrade.

• Consistent, camera-friendly lighting for recorded and live meetings
• Less routine maintenance and fewer person-hours spent accessing house lights above the steep seating risers
• Smooth dimming using the existing control system
• An in-house installation completed in approximately half a day
• No need to relocate the existing fixtures or completely rewire the houselight system

The Town of Cary LED retrofit worked within the existing room rather than requiring the Town to start over with a new lighting system. The fixtures, sockets, locations, and control infrastructure that could remain in service were kept in place while the light sources were updated.

Who benefits from a RETRO LED retrofit?

This retrofit approach is well suited for venues that want to update light sources while keeping existing houselights and dimming infrastructure. Typical candidates include municipal chambers, auditoriums, worship centers, and older performance or meeting spaces where fixture locations and dimming equipment are already serviceable.

Looking Ahead

The project also allowed the Town of Cary to work directly with Canto USA on product selection, lenses, and technical support.

“We will likely continue to look at Canto Followspot options as we build additional facilities,” said Waddell.

For the Council Chambers, the retrofit provided consistent, camera-friendly house lighting with smooth dimming while addressing one of the Town’s biggest concerns: the time and effort required to maintain fixtures positioned above the seating area.

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Learn more about the RETRO Series LED retrofit kits. For additional context and another Cary-related case study, see Town of Cary Council Chambers Retrofit with Canto USA RETRO Series.