Introduction

ArduCAM now released an ESP8266 based Arduino board for ArduCAM mini camera modules while keeping the same form of factors and pinout as the standard Arduino UNO R3 board. The high light this ESP8266 board is that it well mates with ArduCAM mini 2MP and 5MP camera modules, supports Lithium battery power supply and recharging and with build-in SD card slot. It can be an ideal solution for home security and IoT camera applications.

Features

• Build-in ESP8266-12E Module
• 11 digital input/output pins, IO ports are 3.3V tolerant
• 1 analog input(3.2V max input)
• ArduCAM Mini 2MP/5MP camera interface
• Lithium battery recharging 3.7V/500mA max
• Built-in SD/TF card socket
• 7-12V power jack input
• Build-in micro USB-Serial interface
• Compatible with Arduino IDE

Pin Definition

Note that the SD/TF card CS pin is shared with the UART TX signal, so the UART and the SD/TF can’t be used at the same time.

Getting Started ESP8266 with Arduino IDE

ArduCAM released an add-on package that allows the installation of third-party platform packages using Boards Manager. Add the following URL to the Arduino IDE Preferences window. Then Open Boards Manager from Tools -> Board menu and install ArduCAM_ESP8266_UNO add-on package.

http://www.arducam.com/downloads/ESP8266_UNO/package_ArduCAM_index.json

There are 3 examples for both 2MP and 5MP ArduCAM mini camera modules.

• ArduCAM_Mini_OV2640_Capture (or ArduCAM_Mini_OV5642_Capture)

This example uses HTTP protocol to capture still or video over home wifi network from ArduCAM mini 2MP/5MP and display on the web browser.

• ArduCAM_Mini_OV2640_Capture2SD (or ArduCAM_Mini_ OV5642_Capture2SD)

This example takes time to elapse still photos using ArduCAM mini 2MP/5MP and then stored on the TF/SD card. The LED indicates when the TF/SD card is writing.

• ArduCAM_Mini_OV2640_Video2SD (or ArduCAM_Mini_OV5642_Video2SD)

This example takes motion JPEG video clips using ArduCAM mini 2MP/5MP and then stored on the TF/SD card as AVI format.

Video Demo

For more information, please read the user guide here.