minecraft-java-editionminecraft-redstone
The observer block was introduced a while back, and I was never able to make it work. Now, I saw someone do a tutorial on how to observer blocks, and for me the observer would never send block updates with redstone pulses. Am I really not doing this right? I know the block only sends a one second redstone pulse, but that never happened in my case. (I am on 1.14.1)
Here's what I've tried: (And I have looked online to no avail.)
The most reliable redstone timer is this:
It seems pretty weird but chicken are the most reliable source of random! Let it wander in it's 2x1x2 cage and it will be definitely random!
It uses an observer at every block the flow will touch, and merges / prolongs their output into one signal.
The signal produced is almost exclusively on if there's any lava, or off if there's none, because of the varying repeater delays at the end.
No T flip-flop is used; it acts like a lever.
Sometimes it glitches / the door flashes open or closed while lava is being added or removed, but that is very brief and uncommon.
Best Answer
You have the block back-to-front.
This side of the block should be facing the object you are trying to detect an update:
The redstone signal then travels in the direction of the arrow on top, to the back of the block with the red dot.
Think of it this way: the Observer needs to "see" with its "face", in order to "observe" an update.