ESP32 CAM, smart health connected camera for less than 20 €

Yes, you understand, today we are going to talk about an ESP32 CAM, a smart health connected camera based onESP32 less than 20 €. TheESP32 is nothing less than the big brother of theESP8266, our module Wireless favorite health home automation.

The module that we are going to see together is one of the most complete that I have seen. It is of course possible to reprogram it to adapt it to its needs such as for example integration into our health home automation box Jeedom, but we will see that in a future article.

ESP32 CAM what are we talking about?

TheESP32 brings many improvements compared to its predecessor, among others, it is equipped with a dual core processor, a SOC Wifi / Bluetooth CORN, from 36 GPIO and many other additional features. In short all this to say that there is no photo thereESP32 brings a considerable performance gain to your project compared toESP8266, and all for a still reasonable price of around 6 to 9 €.

The term ESP32 CAM is a generic term which includes all development platforms which contains at least one ESP32 and a camera module. There are three main ones and I'm going to tell you about one in particular from the manufacturer OGTT. The OGTT ESP32 CAM is equipped in addition to theESP32 and a camera OV2640 (2MP), an infrared motion detector, a microphone and an OLED screen. Yes just that, all on one board ready to use.

Specifications

• ESP32-WROVER-B wireless module

• SoC – ESP32 dual core Tensilica LX6 processor

• Memory – 8 MB of PSRAM

• Storage – 4 MB SPI Flash

• Connectivity – 2.4 GHz 802.11n WiFI, Bluetooth 4.2 LE

• Camera – 2MP OV2640 camera with normal or fisheye lens

• Screen – 0.96 ″ 128 × 64 OLED screen smart health connected via the SSD1306 I2C display controller

• Audio – Microphone

• USB – 1x micro USB port for power supply and programming (CP2104)

• Sensors – I2C PIR AS312 sensor

• Extension – 5-pin I2C socket with 5V, 3.3V and GND

• Miscellaneous – Reset and user keys (IO34), LED

• Power supply – 5 V via a micro USB port,

• Battery – LiPo battery via 2-pin connector and IP5306 charging chip

• Dimensions – 68 x 28 mm

Getting started

As I said above, La OGTT ESP32 CAM arrives already configured with the firmware that is fine. All we have to do is plug it into our phone charger to start using it.

Through by default, it creates a wifi access point on which we connect with our computer or smartphone. Then we go to the administration web console. We find all the configuration parameters of the camera, as well as a button allowing us to take photo captures or to launch a ehealth streaming.

he is even possible to do facial recognition with the “enroll face ”, but beware, this consumes a lot of resources.

Yes you want to modify the firmware to suit your needs, you will find everything you need on the Github from the builder. For my needs, for example, I turned off the display on the OLED screen and added the call to the HTTP API of Jeedom when the motion detector is triggered to create a smart health connected mini security camera.

Conclusion for our TTGO ESP32 CAM

For less than 20 €, it's a very good product, easy to use, but above all adaptive. Just with the basic firmware, you can already do a lot of thing but with a little work on can go very far. And that's not to mention the possibility of adding additional modules with the 5-pin extension available at the back.

The image quality is correct and fluid (17fps), we must not forget that he is a modest 2MP. I particularly like the version with the fisheye which allows for a relatively wide angle of view. And if you want to decorate everything with a box, there are very beautiful models available on Thingiverse.

In short, it’s a good little card as we like it, we’re meeting very quickly for a new article on this product.

AB SMART HEALTH health home & BUILDING REVIEW