The Current Converter in Probably Stolen replaces an Energy Cell in a machine's battery slot and powers that machine with paid electricity from the Lower Levels' grid. It must be enabled, its nightly service must be paid, and it cannot supply power during a blackout. If your machine does nothing or your electricity bill persists, check those conditions before assuming that installing the converter should provide uninterrupted or free power.
How to install the Current Converter
Open the interface of the machine you want to power, then remove its existing Energy Cell if one is installed. Put the Current Converter into that machine's power slot and confirm that the converter is enabled and its electricity service is available. Advance overnight and inspect the machine's result the next morning, since placing the item in the slot alone does not establish that its work has completed.
Each converter supplies the machine containing it, so a converter installed in one machine does not automatically electrify everything else in your shop. The practical change is how that particular machine gets its energy: you pay for what it consumes instead of managing the gradually depleting charge of an ordinary Energy Cell. That reduces battery maintenance, although the service and blackout restrictions still prevent it from being a guarantee of continuous operation.
How electricity charges and upgrades work
The wiki lists the base electricity rate as 1.5 Credits per kJ, with the charge rounded up. The Current Converter nightly service appears once you own a converter, and its fee covers the night's power cost of every converter that is on. Read that service as the combined charge for the enabled converters rather than treating the listed rate as a flat nightly price for each machine.
Machine demand matters when you compare the expense of different converter installations: the wiki lists the Water Purifier at 4 kJ and the Mirage Projector at 16 kJ. The Water Purifier cleans water overnight, making the following morning's water result relevant when checking whether that setup worked. Use the connected machine's demand together with the converter's electricity rate when considering cost, rather than assuming these machines have identical nightly power bills.
You can upgrade a converter with up to 5 Electronic Parts (Common), with each part lowering its cost by 0.1 Credits per kJ. The wiki lists the best resulting rate as 1 Credit per kJ, so the upgrade reduces electricity spending without eliminating it. Keep the converter's item value separate from those running costs: its listed base value is 300 Credits and its size is 1 x 2, while that value is not a guaranteed price from every seller.
What to check when a machine has no power
Start by checking the converter's enabled state and whether its nightly service is paid, because either condition can leave an installed converter unable to supply power. The wiki confirms that converters can be switched off, and a player named VeryMelon reports that a single click toggles the item. Treat checking the toggle as a useful first troubleshooting step, without assuming it resolves every failure involving the converter or another power upgrade.
Check for a blackout as well, since the converter provides no power during one even when it occupies the correct battery slot. Machines operate after the store closes, and the documented nightly order places the store's power switch, Alarm Systems arming, PowerBlocs charging, and nightly service payments before machines run. Judge the result after the overnight cycle, with particular attention to the service payment that precedes machine operation.
Power Line Hijack: bills and reported failures
A historical Steam post reports continued nightly electricity charges despite the player owning both a Current Converter and Power Line Hijack. In the replies, questinggoosestudio, marked as the developer, acknowledged an oversight and said the current converter and makeshift reactor had been late additions. The developer planned to address the issue in a patch that week, but that statement does not establish that a correction was released or that your current version has fixed the interaction.
Another player, Eddy63, reported that an enabled converter used alongside power hijack failed to produce purified water the next morning. They then reloaded and used a battery, reporting that the machine produced purified water in that comparison. This is evidence from that player's save rather than proof that every converter fails with the upgrade, so keep the report's limited scope in mind when diagnosing your own machine.
If you encounter a similar failure, check whether Power Line Hijack is active in your current playthrough before comparing the result with those reports. Try replacing the converter with a charged Energy Cell, advance through another overnight processing cycle, and compare the machine's output. That comparison can help you investigate the failed setup, but the available information supports neither a guaranteed permanent fix nor a promise that the interaction behaves identically across versions.
Where to obtain more converters
The dedicated wiki entry lists Dr. Jackson as offering 1 Current Converter every visit, with an additional 1 from Jackson Investment I and another 1 from Jackson Investment II. It lists the same count for Monday's Special Stock, tying the available quantity there to the same investment conditions. When planning purchases for several machines, distinguish that stock information from the converter's listed base value, which does not guarantee the price charged by a particular seller. Serpico's reward provides another route, with 2 Current Converters available as one choice among three rewards.
Compare converters with a battery setup
If your main problem is maintaining battery charge, the converter offers a direct convenience benefit by replacing that maintenance with payment for the connected machine's consumption. Battery support equipment offers another approach: the Recharger adds 3 kJ to cells per night, rising to 6 kJ with Commercial Grade Power Supply Unit. Those figures describe battery charging capacity, so they should not be read as reductions to the Current Converter's electricity rate.
The wiki lists PowerBloc charging at 2 kJ per night for neighbors, increasing to 4 kJ with Commercial Grade Power Supply Unit. Neighbor charging and the converter's consumption-based grid payments are different arrangements, so compare the equipment and space needed as well as the ongoing electricity spending. These alternatives can reduce dependence on paid grid power, but the available guidance does not make either power option automatically better for every shop.
A player named WhiskeyNinja described converters as costly with equipment such as the Mirage Projector, while reporting that their shop still made money using them. They reported making more money after moving toward PowerBlocs in their normal, rock bottom, no perks playthrough, which is an individual experience rather than a universal profitability rule. Before fitting several converters, compare your own overnight electricity bill with the equipment investment, inventory space, and inconvenience involved in maintaining batteries.