Machine has a battery but will not run? Check charge, placement and demand

Read charge before replacing the machine

Open the machine and inspect the battery’s number, not just its presence or colour. Compare available charge with the machine’s displayed requirements and installed modules. Performance-heavy combinations can raise demand beyond what your charging setup replaces, according to an older battery-indicator discussion. Use the current tooltip instead of assuming every upgraded machine has the same cost. Dated player report

If swapping batteries, Update 049 permits dragging one owned battery onto another owned battery. Both ownership conditions matter. A trade preview or a battery sitting on a seller’s side is not proof that you can use it. Official swap/ownership changes

Vacuum Robot: check whether the incinerator is on

The 14 September UPDATE 049 documents a Vacuum Robot upgrade using one Common Electronic to unlock a built-in incinerator. Unlocking the feature and switching it on are separate checks. Official patch

Change	Check
You installed the incinerator upgrade	Check whether the feature is actually enabled. The documented extra power draw applies when it is on, not merely because the upgrade is available.
The incinerator is on	The robot uses double its normal power. Compare that with its actual charge and requirements; the patch supplies no universal absolute power figure here.
Stored feces disappear after cleanup	The enabled incinerator destroys feces in the robot’s storage after cleanup. Check this mode before treating the missing waste as an inventory bug.

This explains an upgrade-related change in demand and output; it does not establish a charging layout or a recharge rate.

Check the charging requirement

The diagram shows a checking sequence, not an inventory layout. The dated community description supports an inside/contact distinction, but we have not verified exact external positions, grid geometry or an accepted current-build layout. The September machinery guide describes the following requirements; consult your own device’s current manual or tooltip before placing anything:

Equipment	Arrangement described by the community guide	Common mistaken expectation
Recharger	Put batteries inside it	Merely leaving a battery nearby is not the described setup
Power Bloc	A battery must touch it; the guide also describes batteries inside touching machines	It is not described as recharging a Recharger
The target machine	Keep its required inputs, installed battery and current demand in view	More charging equipment cannot replace a missing input

Both charging arrangements depend on available overnight power service in that dated guide. We have not reproduced placement in a current save. Exact historical recharge rates and module calculations are omitted from this procedure: read the live tooltip before planning capacity. September Machinery and You

The Power Hijack option disappeared — did it break?

Not necessarily. The official patch states that after unlocking Power Hijack, the power service no longer appears in the End of Day UI and is always active. If your concern is specifically the missing menu option, compare that documented state change before diagnosing a service failure. It does not prove your save unlocked it, that your battery was charged, or that every other input is satisfied. Official Power Hijack change

Compare one cycle with one change

Record the machine, battery’s starting number, displayed demand, modules and required inputs. Change one relevant condition, then record ending charge and output or the processing message after reopening. A small comparison is more informative than changing the battery, modules and charging layout simultaneously.

Observed result	What it supports / next check
Output appears while ending charge is unchanged or lower	The machine did some work; net charge alone does not measure how much recharging occurred
No output and no processing evidence	Check ownership, service, arrangement and missing inputs before blaming a single component
Ending charge is below displayed demand	You know the ending balance is low; you do not know the total overnight recharge or processing order
Works until a module changes	Compare the new demand with the old setup; do not reuse the old baseline
Charged but water result still disappoints	Test contaminants and tool role in the water guide

This is a diagnostic method, not a claim about the order of overnight charging and consumption. Two numbers measure a net change. Charging and use can both occur in the interval, so a net drop is not enough to conclude “the charger never worked.”

Modules and temporary acceleration

The community machinery guide distinguishes Quality, Performance and Efficiency roles for the Water Purifier; do not treat their labels as a universal recipe for every machine. It also warns that Advanced Turbo does not supply the target’s normal energy or inputs. If you added an upgrade just before failure, inspect the changed requirement first. Dated machinery source

Actual current-build placement/charge tooltip images remain unverified. The flow shows which condition to check next; it does not show where to put a Power Bloc or certify that the game accepted any particular layout.