The Black Oak Casino uses eight Vari-Lite VL1000TD luminaires (tungsten lamp source with integral IGBT dimmers) in their main lounge, the Willow Creek Lounge. The Willow Creek Lounge has a dance floor, and on Thursday nights, adds risers to host a comedy showcase of local and national comedic talent. O'Brien added: "The lights are so versatile they do what we want them to do. They fit all the uses of space; for dancing, live comedy, logo projection, or any other entertainment."
Two additional fixtures welcome guests; one in the main entrance and, above an escalator, one directs them to the casino's Family Entertainment area featuring the casino's new 24-lane bowling alley. An automated program controls the lights to create a variety of lighting looks and color scenes. "Kids often stop and dance in the light's gobos as they are projected on the floor," added O'Brien.
Because the VL1000 luminaires accommodate up to five indexable and rotatable gobos, the casino can project its logo, announce a special event message, or a public service reminder about drinking responsibly to its guests. "We plan on using them to project reminders of our Casino Designated Driver award program," O'Brien added.
"Of all the features of the VL1000TD lights, the customer really loved that the lights run silently at full bright or when dimmed by their on-board IGBT dimmer," Guberman said. "The fans remain off unless the heat threshold is crossed. In this environment, that will rarely, if at all, happen. This also cuts down on dust and debris from being sucked into the lights; reducing operation and maintenance concerns."
Guberman adds: "Since these fixtures will run 24/7, the ability to dim them and bring them up to full in a fraction of a second allows us a great deal of flexibility and use. With the IGBT dimmer, the client can dim the fixture's lamp without any annoying lamp filament buzz. This will also help reserve lamp life as well as keeping the fixtures from remaining hot like an arc lamp source would."
(Lee Baldock)
