👀 Fotokapan Overview

A handmade camera trap

🚀 Features

This is a portable mini camera trap. It detects motion with a PIR sensor, uses flash when needed, and saves every photo to an SD card with a unique name.

🔎 Preparation

1. Components

'1' ESP32-CAM
'1' Motion sensor (PIR Sensor Hc-Sr501)
'3' AA Batteries (1.5V each)
'1' MT3608 adjustable DC/DC voltage regulator (4.5V to 5.01V step-up)
'1' FT232RL USB to UART Converter

2. Use an SD card with a minimum capacity of 4 GB, formatted as FAT32 with a 32 KB allocation unit size.
3. Then insert this SD card into your ESP32-CAM board.
4. Connect your 'OV2640' camera to your ESP32-CAM board.

📦 Setup

1. Refer to the 'circuit_fotokapan-programming.png' diagram
2. Install the 'Arduino IDE' software and open 'fotokapan.ino' with 'camera_pins.h' file
3. File>Preferences>Additional Boards Manager URLs:(Click the double window button)

Paste this code

https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json

4. Click 'OK'
5. Tools>Board>Boards Manager...
6. Search 'esp32' by Espressif Systems, and install it

⚠️ Warning: Make sure you have installed the correct USB driver (CH340, CH341, FT232R / FTDI Driver, CP2102) before connecting the ESP32CAM to your computer.

7. Plug the ESP32CAM into your computer
8. Tools>Board>esp32>'AI Thinker ESP32-CAM'
9. Tools>Port>'Select the esp's port'

Apply these changes:

• CPU Frequency: 240MHz (WiFi/BT)
• Core Debug Level: None
• Erase All Flash Before Sketch Upload: Disabled
• Flash Frequency: 80MHz
• Flash Mode: QIO
• Partition Scheme: Huge APP (3MB No OTA/1MB SPIFFS)
• 115200 baud

10. Tools>PSRAM(Enabled)
11. Tools>Manage Libraries...>Install the libraries used in the code
12. Click the 'upload ➡️' button
    ✅ To make sure it has been uploaded successfully, you should see the message 'Done uploading'

⚠️ Advisory for Developers: If you want to try this project in the future with new generation boards and you want to add new features like using 'DS1302 real time module', you must have 3 unused pins.

🎉 Run

1. Refer to the 'circuit_fotokapan.png' diagram
2. Position your camera trap at an appropriate angle
3. Let the electricity pass through the switch
4. Press the reset button on the esp32cam
5. You are ready to use your camera trap

❔ If an SD card is installed, photos are stored automatically. To access the photos without removing the SD card, connect GPIO12 to GND before powering on the device. The ESP32-CAM will then start in Web Server Mode and create a local Wi-Fi network (Fotokapan / 12345678), allowing you to browse, download, or delete photos stored on the SD card from any phone or computer.

⚠️ After turning on the camera, wait 5 seconds before using it. Turn off the power before removing the SD card. Do not cover the front of the flash to prevent a potential fire hazard.

🔒 License

📜 GPL-3.0 License