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Upgraded VL6C+ Proves to be a Winning Recipe

Production Resource Group has nearly completed a makeover of their entire 1,200-plus rental inventory of VL6C units, a makeover that goes far beyond merely cosmetic. The ever popular Vari-Lite VL6C Spot luminaire, which has been overhauled to improve both cooling and reliability, even gets a new moniker: the VL6C+. The Vari*Lite Series 300 fixtures were introduced in 1994 and acquired by PRG when it merged with VLPS. The 700-Watt units have the renowned Vari-Lite optics and are widely used for their compact size and weight. Due to the units ongoing popularity PRG felt they needed to make some improvements to enhance functionality.

Among the upgrades to the VL6C+ luminaire are improvements to the ventilation and airflow system, providing greater reliability for all the circuit boards and motors, while upgraded wiring and connectors further enhance the dependability and consistency of all motors and pan/tilt mechanisms. Improvements to the luminaire’s ignitor technology have significantly reduced hot restrike time from eight minutes for the VL6C to one minute for the VL6C+. Also, a new lamp douse switch allows lamp power to be quickly disconnected at the luminaire itself.

Charles Reese, engineering manager at PRG, believes there is a lot for people to love about these units. “Its main features are speed and size; it takes up a very small amount of space; and it doesn’t weigh very much.” In regards to the upgrade Reese explains, “These fixtures had been in our inventory for about 10 years and they are still one of our most highly utilized fixtures. It just made sense for us to go through and modernize them; replace all of the wiring. We had some cooling issues that affected the reliability of some of the mechanisms, so we improved the airflow and cooling for the unit. This extends the life of the motors and the mechanisms.”

Paul Braile, owner of Top Dog Spotlighting, is a moving light technician, who has used the new VL6C+ luminaires on Who Wants to be a Millionaire with LD Chuck Noble and on Iron Chef America on the Food Network with LD Bruce Ferri, appreciates the upgrades. “Iron Chef has such a harsh environment. There are two professional kitchens, we have five hazers; we have dry ice fog; it is just a really harsh environment and it gets very, very hot in the studio,” says Braile. “This is the fifth year that I have done this show. Up until this year; I have never had a successful rig. This year, with the new VL6C+ units it was a walk in the park. It was outstanding how well these lights performed. First of all, with the new airflow system, the fixture runs about 50° cooler than the before. With the VL6C+ with the much better airflow system, you get more of a true sense of the foot candles the light was engineered and designed to put out because the light is running so much cooler.”

Braile talks about the other features of the VL6C+ that makes it, as he points out, “My light of choice. The most important new feature is the hot restrike. When I am working on a show with commercials, it gives me the ability to douse the lamp at a commercial break and feel confident that that lamp will be back in seconds. A fantastic feature. I also love the lamp-douse feature. If I am up in the truss and I want to check something out, I can just douse the lamp locally; it makes it very convenient. I am glad to see PRG acting positively and making improvements to their products. It is making our lives out here a whole lot easier. This upgraded light is absolutely tremendous and I want it on every show that I work on.”

The VL6C+, like the original, contains a 700-Watt short arc lamp and a cold mirror reflector to provide an extremely bright and flat field. The unit accepts a wide variety of color filters and gobos. Two fixed wheels are included, one factory configured for gobos and the second for color filters. Automated zoom optics and edge control, along with a rotating gobo wheel, compliment the fixed wheels and beam size iris functions for a wide variety of effects. A standard palette of gobos and colors is provided with the luminaire and custom gobos can also be installed.

The VL6C+ luminaire is small, lightweight, and virtually silent. Operation is identical to the standard model, so it will easily fit into existing systems, providing the same exceptional performance designers have grown to appreciate with VL6C luminaires.

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Upgraded VL6C+ Proves to be a Winning Recipe

1st November 2007

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