Blitzortung doesn't work

Third party integrations
#1

hi.
i have problems getting blitzortung to work. it always gives me “unavailable”, even when there’s a thunderstorm in the area. i can’t find out what is wrong.

and yes, i’ve searched the forum, but i couldn’t find what i need.

edit: here’s the code for the card:

type: entities
entities:
  - entity: sensor.blitzortung_lightning_azimuth
    secondary_info: last-updated
  - entity: sensor.blitzortung_lightning_distance
    secondary_info: last-updated
  - entity: sensor.blitzortung_lightning_counter
    secondary_info: last-updated
state_color: true
#2

Do you have your home location correctly set up?

#3

yes. i just checked, and it shows the house symbol in the right location.

#4

Are there any errors related to this integration in your logs?

#5

i can’t find any.

#6

The default range is 100km. I’m assuming the storms are at least that close to your house?

#7

i set the range to 1000 km, and yes, there were thunderstorms well within that range.

i went into the log files, and there i found some error message about MQTT. does this mean that blitzortung requires MQTT? i installed and configured MQTT and a broker, and i configured them. but blitzortung still gives me “unavailable”.

#8

how did other people fix this problem? i don’t know enough about home assistant to fix it myself :frowning:

i just found this line in my log file:

2022-08-10 07:15:58.252 ERROR (MainThread) [custom_components.blitzortung.mqtt] Failed to connect to MQTT server due to exception: timed out

does that mean the username and password are wrong? where does blitzortung keep that info?

#9

What is your HA DNS server set to?

(Settings → System → Network)

#10

192.168.1.6, which is my pi-hole. and yes, i use that pi-hole for all my devices.

#11

I’m guessing the pihole is where your issue is. Can you try a public DNS like 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 as a test?

#12

The integration works fine on my end, so it’s not linked to the actual service but your setup. Good luck

#13

i can try…

as expected, 1.1.1.1 did not solve the problem, and neither did 8.8.8.8. it still says unavailable.
i just checked the pi-hole log. there are lots of entries for blitzortung, all allowed. so it obviously keeps trying. but the question is, why does it still use the pi-hole when the DNS is set to 8.8.8.8?

#14

maybe we can compare configs? do you have a client.py on your system? if so, where is it? i ask because that file is mentioned in some threads about this…

#15

I still reckon it is the pi hole.

#16

explain. why do you think so?

#17

Because it works for everyone else.

#18

Another think that I’m thinking about is that as far as I understand the service only detects and reports cloud-ground lightning. Sure it wasn’t a cloud-cloud thunderstorm?

#19

Screenshot 2022-08-11 at 4.41.51 PM
Screenshot 2022-08-11 at 4.41.51 PM784×1062 44.2 KB

This is what my config is

#20

are you sure about that? i thought they detected both types of lightning. AFAICT the antennas on their website can receive both horizontal and vertical polarisation.