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.