I had an old Welding Rig I’d found on the roadside (really bad condition, showing zero charges) that I decided to hold on to as a backup. I got back to the vehicle and stashed it in my installed Vehicle Welding Rig’s storage area. Then I promptly forgot about it (of course). So some days later when I decide to fix the dents on my vehicle, I keep getting the message that says I need a “powered welder” in the vehicle management window.
It took me a while to make the connection, but I finally figured out it was the extra welder. For some reason, the game was defaulting to it instead of the installed welder. As soon as I got the extra welder out the vehicle and shut the doors, the game no longer noticed it.
What mods where active in your world. Also: you forgot to mention the version of the game.
It took me a while to make the connection, but I finally figured out it was the extra welder.
The welding rig (the item, not the installed vehicle part) is not a tool at all. It’s not a welder as seen by the game. It is therefor never considered as potentially usable tool for welding and will never satisfy the “powered welder” requirement in the vehicle management window.
I had an old Welding Rig I'd found on the roadside (really bad condition, showing zero charges)
Welding rigs (the item) never have charges.
For some reason, the game was defaulting to it instead of the installed welder.
The game takes whatever is there. If you have a fully loaded welder and an empty welder, it will just use the loaded one, regardless of the order it encounters them.
As soon as I got the extra welder out the vehicle and shut the doors, the game no longer noticed it.
Another possibility (which happens to me all the time): initially your character was standing at a place where it could not access the installed welding rig (needs a straight unobstructed path to it). Then you moved around and when you tried again, the character had access to the rig.
But there is not much that can be done without knowing the version or having a save that shows the bug )-: