Problem saving ESPHome esp32-cam camera snapshot file

Installation Home Assistant OS
1

I have a working esp32-cam using ESPHome integrated into HA (HASSIO 0.93.1). I can see videos coming from the camera in the HA UI without problems. But I’m having difficulty storing a snapshot when I called the camera.snapshot service manually via the UI.

I use the following for “service data”:

{
“entity_id”: “camera.esp32cam2”,
“filename”: “/tmp/test.jpeg”
}

Although not sure why I would need this, based on comments I found on this forum, I also added

whitelist_external_dirs:
-/tmp

into my configuration.yaml file.

There’s no error when I clicked “call service,” but when I looked inside directory “/tmp” via the Configurator, the directory is empty. What am I doing wrong?

2

Try saving it somewhere inside /config, like /config/www/tmp.

1 Like
3

nickrout - I followed your suggestion and tried storing in the config directory. It worked! Thanks.

Do you know why storing in /tmp failed?

4

Probably because /tmp is inside your docker container or something. I am a bit vague on docker.

5

The call-service UI in HA uses /tmp as example (see below), which is why I used it. Talk about misleading documentation.

Take a snapshot from a camera.

Parameter Description Example
entity_id Name(s) of entities to create snapshots from. camera.living_room_camera
filename Template of a Filename. Variable is entity_id. /tmp/snapshot_{{ entity_id }}
6

Depends on which os you use I suppose

7

I’m using HASIO, so theoretically things should be relatively straight forward. Unfortunately, what I’m finding is that everything other than the simple vanilla stuff often requires extensive trial and error.

8

Yes I know you are using hassio.

9

I’m not able to record to a file. I have a TTGO-Camera setup, it configured and working, but when I created the flow in NodeRed to record upon motion during a given timeframe, I get the following error:

“Call-service API error. Error Message: camera.hall_monitor does not support record service”

Is this related to my TTGO-Camera board, is it unable to record? Not sure how to troubleshoot. Here’s my flow:

30%20AM
30%20AM1608×154 32.2 KB

…and my call service node:

08%20PM
08%20PM1004×1108 63 KB

…and the json code:

{
    "filename": "/config/Recordings/test.mp4",
    "duration": "30"
}

Any thoughts on why I’m seeing the error that the camera doesn’t support record service?

10

Hello,

I am on HASSIO… I am trying to snapshot from a working ESP32 cam w/ ESPHOME firmware and no imaged saved whatever the filename directory pointed (/config/www/tmp for example)

EDIT : problem solved …

Add the whitelist_external_dirs field in the homeassistant: in configuration.yaml

1 Like
11

Hi @SeByDocKy, would you be so kind to give me a step by step guide on how to save pictures from my ESP cam, based on event trigger? I use ESP Home and Home Assistant OS. Thx

12

I did a vidéo in french sometime ago : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVqG13W5MPw