Camera modules for ESP8266 / 32

Hardware
1

Has anyone gone down the route of DIY cameras for HA ?

I’d like to get something to monitor the outside of my house - housing of the camera etc won’t be an issue, but I wondered if anyone has used ESPs for this purpose ?

There seems to be multiple camera modules on the market, so i’m not sure what to go for - something with IR would be ideal, given they would be in the dark sometimes…

Any thoughts ?

1 Like
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Not done it with esp, but this path is well trodden with rpi, and can be quite cheap using a pi zero w.

3

Thanks, i’ve ended up getting a couple of pi cameras to play around with… hopefully those + MotioneyeOS will do the job :slight_smile:

4

Have you seen the esp32 camera support added to esphome? I really want to try this just not sure which one to get that won’t overheat.

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I’ll let you know if my one overheats, but the esphome docs only refer to the m5stack board overheating.

6

Which one did you get?

7

I have not managed to get it flashed yet using an FT232 adator, but i will try a CP2102 adaptor tonight.

8

Update: I have successfully flashed using a CP2102 adaptor and the camera is up and running, although as noted in the esphome docs, it requires HA 0.91 - I am not normally a beta user but I painlessly updated to 0.91.0b5.

The device I purchased on Aliexpress (see my last post for the link) works with the AiThinker setup from the esphome docs. https://esphome.io/components/esp32_camera.html

I have not tried any other resolutions or anything. The wifi signal strength is lowish at around -66dB, but there is facility for an external antenna. The device is currently within 2-3 ft of the AP.

My all round good time with esphome is now even better.

EDIT: It is bloody fiddly attaching the camera to the board! Tweezers and watchmakers glasses for us old folks.

1 Like
9

thanks for the update. I’d love to build my own esp cam doorbell. I’m sure this isn’t too far off!

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I followed this video for a start https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36p9To2hfak
and also this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCQoOZNdaGY&t=2s

Great bell and video.

12

There is solder pad for selecting pcb or external antenna. Likely yours is set to external? Esp32 usually has good range with pcb antenna.