Hello everybody! As many of you, I started to use ESPHome to create my own domotic devices. First I got a couple ESP-01 relays as a DIY cheap Sonoff solution. One day I discovered the ESP-32 and the possibility to make my own DIY camera:
so I ordered some ESP-32 cam and some mini cameras, but I didn’t know I needed one thing called “FTDI” to upload code.
So I got the code on ESPHome (you can see it at the end of the page) and I tried to use my old ESP-01 WiFi module adapter with USB, using DuPont wires like they do with the TFDI:
U0R -Tx
U0T - Rx
GND -GND
VCC- 3.3V
and I got the same mistake over and over again:
Unexpected error: ESP Chip Auto-Detection failed: Failed to connect to Espressif device: Timed out waiting for packet header
Then I realized I should connect Tx with Tx and Rx with Rx, something like this:
U0R - Rx
U0T - Tx
GND - GND
VCC - 3.3V
And it worked!
Note that unlike using a FTDI programmer where we swap RX and TX, here we connect the ESP8266 TX to the ESP32-CAM TX (as denoted by the blue DuPont) and the ESP8266 RX to the ESP32-CAM RX (as denoted by the yellow DuPont).
Right after that when I connected the ESP-32 CAM to 5V from a phone charger, I got a New Device notification on Home Assistant so I could configure the camera properly on Home Assistant.
I leave the code I use in the ESP-32 cam to make it work:
substitutions:
hostname: 'camera'
ssid: 'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
password: 'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
esphome:
name: $hostname
platform: ESP32
board: esp32dev
wifi:
ssid: $ssid
password: $password
fast_connect: True
api:
reboot_timeout: 0s
ota:
logger:
# ESP32-CAM
esp32_camera:
external_clock:
pin: GPIO0
frequency: 20MHz
i2c_pins:
sda: GPIO26
scl: GPIO27
data_pins: [GPIO5, GPIO18, GPIO19, GPIO21, GPIO36, GPIO39, GPIO34, GPIO35]
vsync_pin: GPIO25
href_pin: GPIO23
pixel_clock_pin: GPIO22
power_down_pin: GPIO32
jpeg_quality: 10
resolution: 640X480
idle_framerate: 1 fps
max_framerate: 30 fps
saturation: 0
brightness: 1
contrast: 0
vertical_flip: true
horizontal_mirror: true
name: $hostname
# Flashlight
output:
- platform: ledc
pin: GPIO4
id: gpio_4
channel: 7
#statuslight
- platform: gpio
pin:
number: GPIO33
inverted: True
id: gpio_33
light:
- platform: binary
output: gpio_4
name: $hostname light
#statuslight
- platform: binary
output: gpio_33
name: $hostname status
switch:
- platform: restart
name: "${hostname} Restart"
sensor:
- platform: uptime
name: "${hostname} Uptime"
- platform: wifi_signal
name: "${hostname} WiFi"
update_interval: 60s
