Photos and Features
The box for the TPI-06 will look very familiar if you have had your hands on any other Trendnet hardware. A lot of the switches I have used in the past have this same styling. The box has black at the top and bottom with a gradient fade from black, through blue, then to white in a stripe down the center. That makes it easy for the Trendnet branding in the top corner in white to stand out as well as the model name and the highlighted features along the bottom. But then in the center, the black switch is visible on the blue and white center section. The TPI-06 model number is small but up in the top right corner. The front of the box also highlights that it supports Hive, Trendnet’s cloud functionality. The back of the box doesn’t have the fade at all. On the right, there is a black stripe that lists out features in Spanish and French. Most of the back however has a white background and includes a rendering of an office and shows some of the potential items from Trendnet that you could use. There are four pictures of the TPI-06 that help touch on features. They list out all of the ports, show that this is a managed PDU and that it is fanless with each having a small description for more information.
Inside when you open the box up, the comes wrapped up in a plastic bag and has foam protection on both ends that holds up away from any of the sides of the box. This is similar to how any rack-mounted switch comes in as well. There is a quick installation guide tucked in there and then at the back the foam also holds a cardboard box with all of the accessories. Inside you get the power cord which is a NEMA 5-15P to a C13, aka a standard US power plug to a normal PC power connection. There are two rack mounts each along with a bag of screws for installing them. There is a bag with rubber feet for situations where you aren’t rack mounting the TPI-06 and a metal clip. I will talk more about the clip but it is there to help hold the power cord.
The TPI-06 6-Outlet Managed Rackmount PDU is rack mountable and with that, its size and shape aren’t much of a surprise. It is designed to fit in a 1u standard 19-inch wide rack space and it comes in at 17.32 inches wide so that with the mounting ears it can reach that 19-inch width. It is 1.73 inches or 44mm thick and it is 6.69 inches or 170 inches deep.
Like a network switch, it has a steel housing with a textured black finish. Up on top Trendnet did slip in a large logo across it. For the bottom, there is a little more going on. In the center, you have an information sticker. That has the manufacturing information, all of the certification logos, and the model name. Also on the sticker is the MAC address and its serial number. On the bottom, you can spot a few of the standoffs that are flush mounted here for components inside. There are also four raised circles, these are for the included rubber feet. If you aren’t using this in a rack you can toss those on so it isn’t sliding around on a table scratching things up.
Both ends of the TPI-06 have the same thing going on. There are three different sets of four screw holes. These are for the rack mounting ears. Having three locations gives a little flexibility in how you mount everything. For a switch that wouldn’t matter but here for a PDU, it will depend on your layout where you even want the TPI-06. You might want to attach it to the back of your rack or mount it facing backward. You can also flip the mounting ears and hang it from a wall as well if you don’t have a rack but have a few devices mounted to a board for example. The only thing missing however is because we only have one set of mounting ears, you can’t recess the TPI-06 back which is something some PDUs will do and can be especially useful if you need to use a plug facing out the front but have a rack with a door on it.
The front of the TPI-06 has the Trendnet branding and the model name on the right. Next to that is the PDUs network connection which while it isn’t needed, is a full gig connection. Next to that, there are two buttons, one is the power button. That has a backlit power indicator in the center and is recessed slightly so it can’t be bumped. The reset button next to it is a pinhole button, you will need something to push it. From there are 10 different status LEDs. The four closest to the power button are the Power, System, Protected, and Grounded status lights. The power shows if the power is on or off or blinks when the firmware is being updated. The system LED can be green or red and lets you know if the system is booting up, is ready, or if there is an error with an outlet. The Ground light lets you know that the power plug is grounded. Then the protected status can be green or red and lets you know if the MOV (metal oxide varistor) is active (green), not active (red), or if they have removed power from the outlet (off). To the left are six more status LEDs and these are all numbered and correspond with the outlets on the back of the PDU. They just let you know if each plug is on or off. On the far left the front of the TPI-06 has just one power plug and this is the dedicated always-on power plug.
The back of the TPI-06 has six different NEMA 5-15R outlets across most of the back starting over on the left. They all have labels below with the port number. Each plug also has a status LED right next to it as well, in addition to the status lights on the front. This is a nice feature given that you might be behind the rack working on things trying to figure out why something isn’t on. Over on the right side, there is a circuit breaker for the whole system then the C14 plug for the included power cable. Above that plug, there are two small hangers for the small wire cable support that was in the accessory box.
I was curious how the TPI-06 works and pulled the top cover off to check it out. Trendnet has it split up into three circuit boards. The long board at the top has all of the power relays that control the six outlets on the back. It’s a simple design with the power being fed in from the circuit breaker. Each outlet has one small black cable running to it. The green ground cable and the white neutral cable run from outlet to outlet. There is a small cable running from the bottom right circuit board that handles controlling all of the relays. The bottom right circuit board is the controller, this is where the LAN connection, power buttons, and status LEDs are all here as well. The bottom left PCB is where all of the AC power filtration is handled. All of the cables are 14 gauge which is perfect for the 15 amp capacity of the TPI-06. Also to note, while there is a lot of open air, there aren’t any fans or heatsinks needed to keep things cool.
