Separate capital cost from daily expenses
Capital cost can include the machine, shipping, electrical work and other one-time setup items. Daily revenue and electricity should be the estimates for a full operating day before the uptime adjustment. Other daily expenses are deducted separately.
The uptime setting reduces modeled revenue and energy together. This simplifies real operations: some site costs continue when a machine is offline, which is why the separate other-cost input is useful.
Why zero or negative contribution has no payback
If the modeled daily contribution is zero, the machine never recovers its purchase cost through that operating cash flow. If it is negative, a payback period calculated by dividing the purchase price would be misleading. This tool explicitly reports that the scenario has no positive operating payback.
A $2,000 initial cost and a stable $5 daily contribution would imply 400 operating-scenario days to recover the cost. That example ignores changing prices, hashrate and repair events; it is not a forecast.
Simple payback is only one measurement
Payback does not discount future cash flows or value resale proceeds. It also does not show the maximum cash tied up during a prolonged weak market. Compare the result with the operating-profitability and electricity-threshold tools, and vary the assumptions before treating a short headline payback as meaningful.
Questions about this tool
Does uptime apply to every cost?
It adjusts modeled revenue and electricity. Other daily costs remain separately deductible, allowing for costs that continue during downtime.
Are depreciation or taxes included?
No. The result is a simple cash payback under the supplied assumptions, not an accounting or tax calculation.