Hi,
I have just found the following DIY trail cam project based on the ESP32-cam module on hackaday...
http://marksbench.com/electronics/esp32-cam-low-power-trail-camera/
So why should you bother?
- Very cheap - it costs maybe $15 to $20 in parts but you need to build it yourself and print a case...
- Very high endurance - since the ESP32-cam is completely powered down and only a PIR motion detector is running most of the time, energy consumption is quite low. The author managed 23k images back to back over 16h on a set of 4 AA alkalines of unknown provenience and age - no data real world performance yet.
- hackable - you can program it to your taste using the Arduino IDE (maybe wifi support - the ESP32 has all the hardware on board, but maybe not on battery as that will guzzle power) or hack the hardware:
Remove IR cut filter for IR operation: https://marksbench.com/electronics/removing-ir-filter-from-esp32-cam/
Add a lens adapter for machine vision or CCTV lenses: https://www.reddit.com/r/esp32/comments/bs17ep/give_a_proper_lens_to_your_7_esp32cam/
Add an IR illuminator: http://marksbench.com/electronics/removing-ir-filter-from-esp32-cam-part-ii/
Joachim
I have just found the following DIY trail cam project based on the ESP32-cam module on hackaday...
http://marksbench.com/electronics/esp32-cam-low-power-trail-camera/
So why should you bother?
- Very cheap - it costs maybe $15 to $20 in parts but you need to build it yourself and print a case...
- Very high endurance - since the ESP32-cam is completely powered down and only a PIR motion detector is running most of the time, energy consumption is quite low. The author managed 23k images back to back over 16h on a set of 4 AA alkalines of unknown provenience and age - no data real world performance yet.
- hackable - you can program it to your taste using the Arduino IDE (maybe wifi support - the ESP32 has all the hardware on board, but maybe not on battery as that will guzzle power) or hack the hardware:
Remove IR cut filter for IR operation: https://marksbench.com/electronics/removing-ir-filter-from-esp32-cam/
Add a lens adapter for machine vision or CCTV lenses: https://www.reddit.com/r/esp32/comments/bs17ep/give_a_proper_lens_to_your_7_esp32cam/
Add an IR illuminator: http://marksbench.com/electronics/removing-ir-filter-from-esp32-cam-part-ii/
Joachim