Dell Optiplex 2004 How much current Does it draw

[John1397]

I have Dell Optiplex from 2004 was wondering how much current the box draws there's just mother board power supply and hard drive running with a few fans, seen on an older computer from before 2000 on the sticker it states 6 amps. Unless I drag it to the shop to plug into power meter I have no idea I know the 15" CRT monitors all state 1.5 amps draw and seems like a monitor would need more power than the desktop.

[camerongray]

The current stated on the sticker is more of a theoretical maximum that it would draw, it'll usually draw nowhere near that.  The best thing to do is just get one of those cheap plug in power meters and use it to get a proper measurement.  Also bear in mind that the amount of power that it draws will vary based on how much load is on it, you'll pull a fair bit more power when the machine is doing something computationally intensive compared to when it is sitting at idle.

[Geek-9pm]

One can buy a low-cost digital voltmeter from Walmart. About $10.
You will need to make a DIY jig to measure  current flow.

Alternatively, you can get a clamp on type.

Search for Digital Clamp Multimeter AC DC

Why do you need to know?

[Coco423]

Why do you need to know?

From what I can tell from the original post, to see if the computer has enough amps to use one of the monitors. Also, he needs the tool to see if their is enough voltage tl use one of the monitors, from what I can tell, I may be wrong. Please forgive me if I am wrong.