ESP32 Cam - working!

ESPHome
327

Using google translate I think you are asking how I’m powering it.

I bought a cheap micro usb connector and wired that up and then just power it off a 6 port usb power brick I have near the camera.

328

Can it work as a camera and a Bluetooth packets sniffer simultaneously? Has anybody tried something like that?

329

Yes, I had problems with esphome 1.14 though. Still on 1.13.6.
I have 3 miflora plant sensors all listened by esp32_ble_tracker.

  platform: ESP32
  board: esp-wrover-kit
330

OK, but i am talking about ESP32-Cam exactly. Can this board do 2 jobs at the same time? Have you tried?

331

Have you?

I can’t see why not, I’ll try mine sometime.

332

OK. So, how could i make it work? What would be the config?

333

The cam code is posted in this thread and in the esp docs. Then add the ble code, again it is on the esphome.io site.

334

As far as I can tell, you cannot run the BLE and camera components simultaneously. The ESP32 shares its antenna between wifi and bluetooth, and this can cause all kinds of problems with connectivity. If you want to track BLE devices, you’re likely going to need a dedicated ESP32 (not the camera variant) to do it.

I tried uploading code to have BLE and camera functionality running at the same time and my device won’t connect to the network any more. I don’t have the FTDI hooked up to see the logs, but it failed this basic test.

2 Likes
335

Thanks for trying.

1 Like
336

And also just so you know, it can’t be used to track phones for presence detection. At least it doesn’t work with mine. To be fair the docs clearly say something (at the same time, both vague and specific) about it not working with all devices.

337

I think the problem with that is that phones don’t all do ble. There are Android apps for that though.

338

I’m pretty sure my phone (LG G6) has BLE

339

I’ve done more testing, and found both image quality, reliability and responsiveness are much better with the ESP-WHO demo from the IDF.
I will do further testing…

340

I have one of these ESP32cam and got it working locally on HA.
I have a Nabu Casa cloud service subscription.

When I try to view the cam on a mobile phone (android app) I get - picture card not supported yet.

Can you view the esp32cam remotely?
How??

Thanks…

341

Just to chip in, i managed to flash it like this:

  • FT232RL FTDI usb adaptor on my windows PC
  • Windows upgrade found the drivers for the adapter automatically.
  • Not directly from HA machine (i have an asus tinkerboard s).
  • Had to download the binary from HA(through edge explorer, my chrome wouldn’t download the bin file for some reason - gave me an error).
  • 5v Connected as shown below, not to VCC as i was originally trying.
  • I had to leave the GP0 shorted to ground through the whole process for it to work. I thought due to past experience that i had to hold it only while booting but turns out i had to leave it on. (gray line below - im attaching the picture in case it helps someone in the future.)

750×333 55.1 KB

edit: I gave up on trying to flash directly through HA and was doing trials on the pc until i figured out the above so, it might also work with the above combination of things hooked up on Hassio, didnt try it out.

6 Likes
342

Hey, just wondering if you ever fixed this issue. I’m seeing the exact same issue with by esp32 cam, it works perfectly fine on 3.3V, but as soon as I switch to 5V, the same sketch will not work.

Serial output is garbage, lamp is flashing. I even loaded an empty sketch so I don’t think the Wifi startup is the issue.

343

So I (was slightly surprised that I) managed to get my ESP32-cam flashed with a FT232RL FTDI TTL Serial Adapter using only hassio / rasp pi 4 and the cam appears to be fully integrated and working, along with OTA.

I loosely followed Harry’s wiring. But the thing is I was basically getting a bit trigger happy with what I was trying (and umm have had a few drinks - don’t judge!) , and so can’t remember exact steps.

I do recall (update: ignore this, see my edit at bottom)

  1. Doing the intial flash at 5v
  2. I can’t recall what I left in to actually get the hassio integration step done, but that was a bit fiddly
  3. I switched back to 3.3v to get it OTA.

So while this is ‘kind of’ but ‘not particulary’ useful, I do actually need to do a second one, so hopefully I can report back with specifics soonish.

image
image929×804 174 KB

esphome:
  name: esp32cam_1
  platform: ESP32
  board: esp32dev

wifi:
  ssid: "XXXXXXXX"
  password: "XXXXXXXX"

# Enable logging
logger:
# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

ota:

# esp32_ble_tracker:
  # scan_interval: 20s

# ESP32-CAM
esp32_camera:
  name: esp33_cam1
  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

Edit: geez I even named it esp33!! :beers: Glug glug…

Edit 2 (next day):
Got the second one flashed and working via FT232RL FTDI with less but still a bit of a hassle.
Main issue was the initial serial flash either “failing to connect” or “A fatal error occurred: Timed out waiting for packet content”. I took a few notes and can provide if anyone needs. I mainly just kept switching raspberry pi usb ports (which of course also powercycles adapter) and kept trying. Ignore my comments about wiring/voltage in first attempt - just use the wiring in the pic Krash attached a few posts above. The rest of the workflow (wiring aside) was basically as in the intial writeup.

344

Ah those late-night drunk home automation sessions :heart:

3 Likes
345

I’m eagerly waiting on my FTDI adapter. Bought the cam thinking it was already with usb…

the quality looks pretty decent I must say

346

So the point of this post was what? We already know esp32 cam works!