at the moment you can;t put any batteries or crystals in it, atleast alot of people, including me, are having this problem/bug. but you wouldn;t have to put it next to all your crops, you would just put it on the ground nearby and bring your seedbags to it to be analyzed, just like they are now. except you would have to bother with batteries of any kind, it'll just use your Enet system energy when scanning each seedbag.