ESP32 Cam Fails When LED or PWM enabled

fr0zt · March 23, 2021, 7:12pm

Hello,

I have an AI Thinker ESP32 Cam that I’m trying to set up with ESPHome. When I include code that enables the onboard flash LED the camera stops working with these errors looping:

[W][esp32_camera:153]: Got invalid frame from camera!
[E][camera.c:495] i2s_run(): Timeout waiting for VSYNC

This yml the camera works and produces a valid picture stream:

esphome:
  name: coop_esp32_door
  platform: ESP32
  board: esp32cam

wifi:
  ssid: "ABC"
  password: "123"

output:
- platform: ledc
  pin: GPIO4
  id: flash32

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
  vertical_flip: false
  name: "Coop Cam v2"

captive_portal:

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

ota:

Likewise, just including the LED flash code works:

esphome:
  name: coop_esp32_door
  platform: ESP32
  board: esp32cam
  on_boot:
    then:
      - output.set_level: 
          id: flash32
          level: 2%
      - delay: 500ms
      - output.turn_off: flash32

wifi:
  ssid: "ABC"
  password: "123"

captive_portal:

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

ota:

But when I include the LED flash code with the camera code, I get the errors:

esphome:
  name: coop_esp32_door
  platform: ESP32
  board: esp32cam
  on_boot:
    then:
      - output.set_level: 
          id: flash32
          level: 2%
      - delay: 500ms
      - output.turn_off: flash32

wifi:
  ssid: "ABC"
  password: "123"

output:
- platform: ledc
  pin: GPIO4
  id: flash32

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
  vertical_flip: false
  name: "Coop Cam v2"

captive_portal:

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

ota:

Does anyone know if there’s an issue using the onboard LED and camera at the same time?

zoogara · March 23, 2021, 7:44pm

Possibly a power issue? True a higher current supply - if you are powering via the USB port on the HA machine or your PC that can cause similar issues.

fr0zt · March 23, 2021, 11:33pm

I’m using a 2.4A power supply, which I think should be more than enough? I added a 1A power supply in parallel and get the same errors.

I also can’t get other PWM components working while the camera component is present. See below for another yml, this time where I have a pwm switch component. As soon as the device boots it starts giving the same error:

Got invalid frame from camera!

yml:

esphome:
  name: coop_esp32_door
  platform: ESP32
  board: esp32cam

wifi:
  ssid: "ABC"
  password: "123"

  # Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
  ap:
    ssid: "Coop Esp32 Door Fallback Hotspot"

output:
- platform: ledc
  pin: GPIO13
  id: IN1
  frequency: "25000Hz"
- platform: ledc
  pin: GPIO2
  id: IN2
  frequency: "25000Hz"

light:
  - platform: monochromatic
    output: IN1
    id: andrew_mono_down
    restore_mode: ALWAYS_OFF
    name: "Andrew Mono Down"
  - platform: monochromatic
    output: IN2
    id: andrew_mono_up
    restore_mode: ALWAYS_OFF
    name: "Andrew Mono Up"

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
  vertical_flip: false
  name: "Coop Cam v2"

captive_portal:

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

ota:

taikapanu · March 24, 2021, 3:47am

Are you powering it from the 5v pins? Powering from 3.3 will be a problem.

You could also add small capacitor in the esp pins.

And in general, when the wifi is in used then ADC2 mapped pins shouldn’t be used. Might cause some stability errors.

fr0zt · March 24, 2021, 4:31am

Yes, powering from 5v.

I googled ADC2 pins and it looks like that refers to analogue to digital pins? This page seems to indicate that they’re GPIO 32-39? https://esphome.io/components/sensor/adc.html

Those are just used by the camera. There aren’t any issues using the camera while WiFi is enabled (as long as the PWM switches aren’t enabled)

Thanks

taikapanu · March 24, 2021, 4:36am

GPIO 13 and 2 are part of the ADC2. Note is that might cause instability. Guess it depends on multiple items.

ADC2_CH0 (GPIO 4)
ADC2_CH1 (GPIO 0)
ADC2_CH2 (GPIO 2)
ADC2_CH3 (GPIO 15)
ADC2_CH4 (GPIO 13)
ADC2_CH5 (GPIO 12)
ADC2_CH6 (GPIO 14)
ADC2_CH7 (GPIO 27)
ADC2_CH8 (GPIO 25)
ADC2_CH9 (GPIO 26)

fr0zt · March 24, 2021, 4:55am

Ok, I’ll try other GPIO pins.

It looks like the only pins on the ESP 32 Cam available that aren’t in that list are GPIO 1, 3, and 16. I’ll need 4 total (2 for motor, 2 for endstops), but will try with just the motor first.

fr0zt · March 24, 2021, 11:16pm

No luck. I switched to using GPIO 1 and GPIO 3 (instead of 2 and 13), but still same error. Even without a motor plugged in, the below yml results in [16:12:23][W][esp32_camera:153]: Got invalid frame from camera! errors every second.

I guess PWM GPIO output just doesn’t work with the camera enabled? Has anyone got this working?

esphome:
  name: coop_esp32_door
  platform: ESP32
  board: esp32cam

wifi:
  ssid: "ABC"
  password: "123"

  # Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
  ap:
    ssid: "Coop Esp32 Door Fallback Hotspot"

output:
- platform: ledc
  pin: GPIO3
  id: IN1
  frequency: "25000Hz"
- platform: ledc
  pin: GPIO1
  id: IN2
  frequency: "25000Hz"

light:
  - platform: monochromatic
    output: IN1
    default_transition_length: 5s
    id: andrew_mono_down
    restore_mode: ALWAYS_OFF
    name: "Andrew Mono Down"
  - platform: monochromatic
    output: IN2
    default_transition_length: 5s
    id: andrew_mono_up
    restore_mode: ALWAYS_OFF
    name: "Andrew Mono Up"

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
  vertical_flip: false
  name: "Coop Cam v2"

captive_portal:

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

ota:

fr0zt · March 29, 2021, 6:24pm

Is there anywhere I could submit this as an issue?

This is a big problem if PWM cannot be used with the ESP32 Cam in ESPHome while the camera is enabled.

luckydutchie · April 10, 2021, 10:03pm

@fr0zt this note explains it:
Note
Camera uses PWM timer #1. If you need PWM (via the ledc platform) you need to manually specify a channel there (with the channel: 2 parameter) on this page. I had the same issue, set the ledc channel to ‘2’ and it works.

alco · March 4, 2022, 7:36pm

Sample code with working PWM on the ESP32-cam Led pin, for anyone that googled this:

# Flashlight, use channel 2 for PWM, channel 1 is used by camera.
output:
  - platform: ledc
    pin: GPIO4
    id: gpio_4
    channel: 2

## GPIO_4 is the flash light pin
light:
  - platform: monochromatic
    output: gpio_4
    name: PWM light

also I made my ESP32 cam configuration public at my github: