home-assistant/core · error · HomeAssistantError

failed_clip

failed_clip

Error message

Blink failed to record a clip.

What it means

blink camera.record raises HomeAssistantError with key 'failed_clip' ('Blink failed to record a clip.') when the blinkpy camera.record() call times out. The command to start a clip recording on the camera did not get a timely response from the Blink cloud; the entity state is not rewritten.

Source

Thrown at homeassistant/components/blink/camera.py:127

    @property
    @override
    def motion_detection_enabled(self) -> bool:
        """Return the state of the camera."""
        return self._camera.arm

    @property
    @override
    def brand(self) -> str | None:
        """Return the camera brand."""
        return DEFAULT_BRAND

    async def record(self) -> None:
        """Trigger camera to record a clip."""
        try:
            await self._camera.record()
        except TimeoutError as er:
            raise HomeAssistantError(
                translation_domain=DOMAIN,
                translation_key="failed_clip",
            ) from er
        except UnauthorizedError as er:
            self.coordinator.config_entry.async_start_reauth(self.hass)
            raise ConfigEntryAuthFailed("Blink authorization failed") from er

        self.async_write_ha_state()

    async def trigger_camera(self) -> None:
        """Trigger camera to take a snapshot."""
        try:
            await self._camera.snap_picture()
        except TimeoutError as er:
            raise HomeAssistantError(
                translation_domain=DOMAIN,
                translation_key="failed_snap",
            ) from er

View on GitHub (pinned to 58a3fdb3ea)

Solutions

  1. Retry the record trigger once the camera is confirmed online.
  2. Space out consecutive record triggers — Blink does not stack clips.
  3. Check Blink cloud status and local internet if it persists.
Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Try / catch

from homeassistant.exceptions import HomeAssistantError

try:
    await camera.record()
except HomeAssistantError as err:
    if err.translation_key == "failed_clip":
        _LOGGER.warning("Clip trigger timed out; camera may be asleep")

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Triggering the record clip service/action on a Blink camera while Blink cloud is slow, the camera is offline or asleep, or the HA host has upstream network problems.

Common situations: Manual or automation-driven clip triggers during Blink outages; battery cameras in sleep state; recordings requested in quick succession.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of home-assistant/core@58a3fdb3ea (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b573250fa75cb4b7. Report an issue: GitHub.