home-assistant/core · warning · HomeAssistantError
failed_arm_motion
failed_arm_motion
Error message
Blink failed to arm camera motion detection.
What it means
HomeAssistantError with translation key 'failed_arm_motion' raised when the camera motion-detection switch is turned on and camera.async_arm(True) raises TimeoutError. The Blink API did not answer the arm request in time; only the switch command failed, the integration itself stays healthy.
Source
Thrown at homeassistant/components/blink/switch.py:77
self.entity_description = description
serial = self._camera.serial
self._attr_unique_id = f"{serial}-{description.key}"
self._attr_device_info = DeviceInfo(
identifiers={(DOMAIN, serial)},
serial_number=serial,
name=camera,
manufacturer=DEFAULT_BRAND,
model=self._camera.camera_type,
)
@override
async def async_turn_on(self, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
"""Turn the switch on."""
try:
await self._camera.async_arm(True)
except TimeoutError as er:
raise HomeAssistantError(
translation_domain=DOMAIN,
translation_key="failed_arm_motion",
) from er
except UnauthorizedError as er:
self.coordinator.config_entry.async_start_reauth(self.hass)
raise ConfigEntryAuthFailed("Blink authorization failed") from er
await self.coordinator.async_refresh()
@override
async def async_turn_off(self, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
"""Turn the switch off."""
try:
await self._camera.async_arm(False)
except TimeoutError as er:
raise HomeAssistantError(
translation_domain=DOMAIN,View on GitHub (pinned to 58a3fdb3ea)
Solutions
- Retry the switch toggle after a minute — transient Blink cloud slowness is the usual cause
- Confirm the camera is online in the Blink app (an offline camera cannot arm)
- Check for a Blink outage if every command times out
- If persistent, reload the entry or restart HA to rebuild the HTTP session
Defensive patterns
Strategy: retry
Try / catch
try:
await switch.async_turn_on()
except HomeAssistantError as err:
if "failed_arm_motion" in str(err):
# transient Blink slowness: back off and retry once
await asyncio.sleep(30)
await switch.async_turn_on() Prevention
- Wrap Blink switch toggles in automations with retry-once-with-delay logic
- Check camera online state before commanding arm/disarm
- Expect occasional cloud latency; do not treat single timeouts as device failure
When it happens
Trigger: Toggle switch.blink <camera>_motion_enabled on while Blink's cloud is slow/unresponsive: the async_arm HTTP request exceeds its timeout and TimeoutError propagates.
Common situations: Blink server latency spikes; camera offline so the arm command cannot complete; coinciding with a coordinator refresh saturating the client session.
Related errors
AI-assisted analysis of home-assistant/core@58a3fdb3ea (2026-08-14).
Data as JSON: /api/errors/f170d6cd2cf34ce6.
Report an issue: GitHub.