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Template:Pocket

An observer is a block that emits 1 redstone tick (2 game ticks) when an adjacent block is updated.

Obtaining

Crafting

Ingredients Crafting recipe Description
Cobblestone +
Redstone +
Nether Quartz

Pocket Edition & Windows 10 Edition only

Breaking

An observer requires a pickaxe to be mined. When mined without a pickaxe, it will drop nothing.

Block Observer
Hardness 3
Tool
Breaking time[A]
Default 15
Wooden 2.25
Stone 1.15
Iron 0.75
Diamond 0.6
Netherite 0.5
Golden 0.4
  1. Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Usage

An observer is placed similarly to a piston, and will observe the block that it is placed against.

The observer block texture has two holes which are at opposite ends when the block is placed. The smaller hole outputs a redstone signal whilst the bigger hole detects the block update.

Behavior

An observer will detect changes in its target's block ID or data value, or the breaking or placing of a block.

When it detects something, the observer:

It also counts as a block update when the observer itself is moved by a piston. When this happens an observer emits a pulse after being pushed or pulled but not beforehand.

Observers behave as a transparent block even though they block light. This means you can't power observers with an external power source nor power themselves with their own output.

Observers can detect a wider range of phenomena than a block update detector (BUD) circuit in the computer edition can detect, though has different limitations.

Observers will not detect the following block ID or data value changes:

  • Powering / depowering of activator rails
  • Inverting / deinverting a daylight sensor
  • Activation of a dropper or dispenser
  • Activation / deactivation of redstone ore, or of a redstone torch
  • A piston (not the head) extending or contracting
  • Locking / unlocking a redstone repeater or hopper
  • Spread of grass to dirt, or decay of grass into dirt
  • Growth of nether wart, forced growth of cocoa pods by bone meal, or growth of vines into empty space.
  • Aging of saplings or sugar cane
  • Aging of fire, or changes to the data value that signifies flammable surfaces surrounding it
  • Changes in the shape of walls, fences, iron bars, glass panes, stairs, redstone dust, vines, melon stem or pumpkin stem
  • A grass block becoming snowy or not snowy
  • Farmland going through its stages of hydration
  • Moving bottles to / from a brewing stand
  • Anything comparators measure as containers

Data values

Block data

Bits Values
0x1
0x2
0x4

Three bits storing a value from 0 to 5:

  • 0: Observer facing down
  • 1: Observer facing up
  • 2: Observer facing north
  • 3: Observer facing south
  • 4: Observer facing west
  • 5: Observer facing east
0x8 If set, the observer is powered.


History

Pocket Edition Alpha
0.15.0May 2, 2016Jeb tweeted that Daniel Wustenhoff is a working on a BUD block.[1]
Tommaso Checchi tweeted his "rejected graphics" for the block.[2]
build 1Added observer block.

Issues

Issues relating to "Observer" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

See also

References

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