Lowest possible wifi camera with low power sleep?
James Newton wrote 12/25/2018 at 21:03 • 0 pointsWhat's the absolute cheapest possible programmable wifi camera with low power sleep? I want to monitor my water use by taking remote pictures of the meter. It's in a place where anything of value will be stolen. Also, no place for wires (sidewalk) so battery only which means low power shutdown between pictures. I'm thinking ESP32 and camera. ~$12 e.g.
https://www.banggood.com/TTGO-T-Journal-ESP32-Camera-Development-Board-OV2640-SMA-WiFi-3dbi-Antenna-0_91-OLED-Camera-Board-p-1379925.html?cur_warehouse=CN
Anything cheaper?
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I think any of this modules can work good. Check out my camera project too I already tried with arducam ov2640 and in my experience is hard to get low power on this cameras. But if you don't want to do any wiring this board with everything plugged in seems like an excellent choice. Just make sure to 3dprint some nice case if its going to in a constant humid environment.
Note: maybe this embedded cameras manage consumption differently but for me using a lion 3.7v battery with the esp32 battery plug of esp32 does not work good. Since the 3.7v get into the power regulator and it ends up below 3v in consumption peaks. So I prefer feeding the board directly using 3.3v pin and use a external pololu step up/down voltage regulator.
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Started Yet. Another. Project to maintain notes and so on about this:
https://hackaday.io/project/162968-low-cost-low-power-sleep-wifi-camera
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And this one as well:
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/M5Stack-Official-ESP32-Camera-Module-Development-Board-OV2640-Camera-Type-C-Grove-Port-3D-Wifi-Antenna/3226069_32881414545.html
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As per my follow up in the chat, there is this module too. Doesn't contain any USB or battery components but if you're going to supply wired power (and have a decent serial programmer) this shouldn't be a problem.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/ESP32-CAM-WiFi-Bluetooth-Module-Camera-Module-Development-Board-ESP32-with-Camera-Module-OV2640-2MP/32919183232.html
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cool
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