ESP32-CAM Video Streaming Camera that works with Node-RED and Home Assistant

In this video I will show you the #ESP32-CAM. This is the cheapest WIFI camera that I've ever found on the market. Also This tiny #Camera can stream video via web server and can work with Node-RED & #HomeAssistant and I will show you how.

1:07 Requirements
5:44 Node-RED integration
8:13 Home Assistant integration
9:31 How to create a ESP32-CAM cable
11:30 mounting ESP32-CAM inside fake security camera case

Steps
To make this camera to work as I want I will flash it will Arduino sketch which will actually start a mini Web Server inside it that can be accessed from any web browser and of course Node-Red and Home-Assistant.

Before I continue I want to say that all the credits for the Arduino sketch and the Idea as a whole goes to the guys from https://randomnerdtutorials.com. They have a great video and article about ESP32-CAM showing how to flash the camera and how to integrate it with Home Assistant. So thank you guys for your great work.

Be careful with the ESP32-CAM model, there a 4-5 different brands out there the one that you want is Ai-Thinker.

To complete this tutorial you will need:
A computer with USB and Arduino installed - https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software
ESP32-CAM with OV2640 - http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_sD0uUd around $10
FTDI programmer - https://amzn.to/3Cxe0KM around $1.65
Female-to-female jumper wires - https://amzn.to/2F69gxt around $7 ($0.12 for two wires)
Fake/dummy dome security camera (optional) - http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_rIrELj around $4
5V power supply for ESP32-CAM - http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_sGcdip around $1.5

Other brands may also work, but it's not guaranteed. I tried with the one camera that looks the same, but it has no labels on it and everything went fine, but at the end there is some strange flickering during the streaming.

With that being said lets flash the ESP32-CAM now:

Install Arduino IDE for your OS
Go to Arduino \ Preferences
Enter https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_e... into the “Additional Board Manager URLs”
Go to Tools \ Board \ Boards Manager…
Install “ESP32 by Espressif Systems“ for me only version 1.0.2 worked OK
Copy and paste the following sketch inside your Arduino - https://github.com/peyanski/ESP32-CAM...
Replace SSID and password with your WIFI credentials
If you are using other ESP32-CAM model than Ai-Thinker uncomment your camera model in the code
Connect the ESP32-CAM board to your computer using an FTDI adapter and Follow the diagram in the video.
Chose all the settings in Arduino exactly as shown in the video
Click the upload button to upload the code.
After uploading the code, disconnect IO0 from GND. Open the Serial Monitor at a baud rate of 115200. Press the ESP32-CAM on-board Reset button. The ESP32 IP address should be printed in the Serial Monitor.

Node-RED integration
Inside Node-RED Install node-red-dashboard from Manage Palette menu, if you don’t have it already
Import the whole flow from here - https://github.com/peyanski/ESP32-CAM...
Don’t forget to create and assign Group and Tab to the template in your Node-RED
Open your dashboard

Home Assistant integration
Click on Configure UI in the upper right corner
Click on the Plus button in the lower right corner
Click on the Picture Card
Type the URL of the ESP32-CAM in the Image Path of the Picture Card Configuration

Question?
Are you interested in image recognition software - you can say yes or no in the comments section bellow and I will know for what you are talking about.

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I really hope that you find this information useful and you are going to make your ESP32-CAM to work with Node-RED, Home Assistant and as video streaming web-server

Thank you for watching, stay safe and see you next time.

DISCLAIMER
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