Cheap Wi-Fi IP Surveillance Camera (Very little DIY needed)

This camera uses ESP32 camera module, it can be programmed via Arduino IDE just like Arduino. You can even connect other devices to it, like sensors, displays, relays and much more (you'll need some Arduino coding skills for that).
Although it can work without any programming, I recommend to flash it with my modified code (or use code from Arduino IDE examples).
To flash it you'll need a USB to UART converter, for example, this one: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dW0...
ESP32 Camera module you can get here: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_d8X...
5V LED Modules here: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_d7f...
My modified code that supports LED control here: github.com/electrical-pro/ESP...
Arduino IDE by default doesn't have ESP32 camera, so you'll need to go File/ Preferences and add in Additional Board Manager URLs this: raw.githubusercontent.com/esp...
Then go to Tools/board/Boards manager/ and search for ESP32 and install it. More info here: github.com/espressif/arduino-...

[@guardianobserver6593]

Incredible how much cheaper have electronics become. When young I was travelling kilometers with bus to the electronic shop to find one by one all the components for my constructions. .

[@dpedroam4107]

??

[@dpedroam4107]

??

[@guardianobserver6593]

@@dpedroam4107?

[@Mie-76]

@@dpedroam4107 ?

[@ceramintreal]

@@dpedroam4107 ?

[@s.anderson1581]

Greetings, this is your first video that crossed my feed, looking for a quick reference to this kind of cam board, and it is excellent. I am a software engineer with a BSEE from the 1990's and with a lot of background teaching science subjects. I just looked over your channel, and you are experimenting in much the same way I was experimenting in the 1980's. Of course you have such amazingly more advanced things to tinker with 40 years later than I did. I would ask this on behalf of those who will learn from what you do - share your mistakes, and share the things you learn about how what you make does not work in the way you expected. You may look upon them as silly mistakes, or even embarrassing, but I assure you that you are learning and growing, we do so by making mistakes, and by sharing them we help others learn and grow. Of course you know there will always be trolls in social media, but you have adapted to that, I expect, with your channel as it is now. Sharing mistakes opens you up to people who like to be mean just for the sake of being mean. However, it also opens you up to people who will have different questions about similar issues. You'll never save everyone from the mistakes you make, you can only help those who find your content here. I observe there are at least 2 valuable lessons you learned here, probably more, but you skipped over them, AFTER the fact, one will seem obvious, the other maybe not so much. I'll bet there are more that I am not even realizing. The first would be why you decided to paint much of the glass black - share why you made that change. In retrospect it probably seems so obvious, but others who watch what you did will learn when you share the reasoning behind the design change. The second would probably be why we didn't see how that larger LED worked at night. It's a big challenge to illuminate a wide field of view meaningfully at night. My tinkering with these will be to use some dental picks to (very carefully) remove the IR filter (probably under a microscope) and see how well these can work with IR illumination at night. I am thinking I may need to simply add lenses to narrow the field of view to match an IR module's beam. A reach goal would be to add an IR filter option back into the optical path using a solenoid of some kind. Again, you seem to be doing some excellent experiments. Have fun with it, and share also the things that don't work as you expected.

[@neilmartin1111]

well put

[@NichoTBE]

he said he painted glass to prevent lens flare

[@YungRu]

fed

[@thekaus1028]

I definitely feel your message to him. I am an Engineering Technology AS major and I have those same questions you did. I define his ability to skip over those major differences in technique kind of busy. He has so much to say but only because people seem to have shorter attention spans.... 😅 they want short quick to the point videos. Not too much time spent on a video or project. But you know what you're talking about also with the mistakes, and showing the failures. Basically, the hard and easiness of everything. But editing videos and other unusually information that is pertinent or either not so much. You have a very great eye, ear and hand understanding the electrical flow.

[@acestudioscouk-Ace-G0ACE]

This answered a lot of my questions about ESP32 Cam, thanks.

[@davidyusaku]

Yooo i'm so glad this video comes up in my recommendation Thanks man

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Very nice project! Neat and useful - love it! Thanks mate!

[@jeremymorrison263]

Well done! Gave me a ton of ideas. I was worried a project like this may be too much for me, but now I'm fairly confident. Gracias Amigo.

[@edxxx50]

Nice touch the "gracias amigo" . Greattings from México

[@AndreiPetunin]

Pretty decent video quality from that little thing :-) keep posting!

[@TerryGilsenan]

This was a very good demonstration. Thank you.

[@aaronag7876]

Outstanding tutorial video. Perfect for monitoring my wild bird feeder and running opencv against identifying the birds. Also helpful to help with identifying what animals visit my garden. I know a fox keeps playing with our rubber garden shoes, as they are not by the door each morning and have teeth marks all over them lol but never managed to video it happening. Thanks.

[@dashnyamkhurelbaatar1318]

sounds super interesting. will you do tutorial about it? I also want to use opencv as well

[@czthor1]

Good job it preforms really well. you could use IR led purple so people would not see white light.

[@Spaps0]

Utterly fascinating. Gave me lots of ideas for what to do in my free time! Thank you!

[@mateusmartinslus]

I live in a tough neighborhood, that's will help me to get alert of everything happens here hahaha thanks man

[@terrygilligan4771]

Qq

[@okolepuka808]

I think I saw Borat walking home on the street, VERY NIIICE!

[@Echo3_]

BRO, You are so getting a sub this is really cool!

[@vpchandru]

at last atfer reading your video clip many times i successfully uploaded your code and found my image and printed. thank you

[@JamesFraley]

Great product find, great video. Thank you for making it.

[@EssenesOrthopraxy]

this people don't have the English American accent, so they should speak slow so the people can understand them,.

[@JoelSwensenM]

Wow I was not expecting the picture to be so good

[@antoniopina1287]

the world is becoming scary...

[@saltysexyyy6336]

@@antoniopina1287 what do u mean by scary lol , advanced is a better word

[@LeandroLima81]

Amazing man!!!! AMAZING!

[@naidote1207]

where i can find the source code? im sorry am student

[@alrestauro]

Amazing do it yourself WiFi surveillance camera looks like a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing.

[@harleyrdr1]

3:51 - The intended purpose of that white LED is to be used as a flash-bulb. So that's why it is unlimited and really bright. I have no idea how to set that up, but that's what I read about it.

[@vasiliynkudryavtsev]

There is actually a complementary board with microUSB connector and USB-UART IC. It can be used to program multiple boards or use as is, USB powered.

[@Liqweed1337]

name of the board, so i can search it up?

[@vasiliynkudryavtsev]

@@Liqweed1337 ESP32-CAM-MB it is.

[@AndreVanKammen]

Thanks KZbin for reminding me. I bought this last year but when it arrived I had other stuff to do and forgot about it :)

[@laughahole397]

LMAO

[@MrTipsoTV]

hahaha same here, now I forget where did i put it..

[@mannykhan7752]

Wow this was pretty awsome. Thanks for the video

[@MasterMaster-im7xg]

Quite good project! Thanks!

[@robertwells3797]

Perfect to keep an eye on your grow rooms :D

[@runningwithscissors7715]

very well constructed video all information supplied and parts allocation ..very professional job..subscribed

[@dinuvirashmika168]

Thankyou very much! This was a great help for me❤🤝

[@hexadecimal7300]

Thankyou. Presented very well, just the right cadence for me . Subbed.

[@freekycheese]

Great, did you run from a battery? Any info on how long it lasted if so?

[@goncaloantonio7896]

Pls anwser my dude

[@moisty254]

The part I found most impressive was soldering all those little terminals

[@Liferoad371]

I think your camera picture is as good as my $80 security camera. Great job!

[@esotericvv1244]

same here wtf we got ripped off

[@igorzavin5617]

Новгородский акцент, можно без перевода всë понять, красава, видос лайк и подписка!

[@user-ix5jl2xe9i]

пилоты в самолетах так говорят))

[@igorzavin5617]

@@user-ix5jl2xe9i точно

[@yuluslvenkov834]

А Новгород тут причём? Мэйби зис из Псков сити

[@Shubaduba-Haligali]

@@yuluslvenkov834 ноу-ноу! Ай кноу хёр сити - ит из э Ростов-он-Дон, из зе кепитал оф дон-коссакс! Ит'с май лайф!

[@GENEZISS666]

Тоько хотел написать, что рязанский акцент выдаёт автора :-) !!! а тут его уже раскусили!!! поржал от души особенно на 1:36 конвортэр это шудевр, а так паря молодец лайк!

[@RapaRukka]

Great video, just stepped into Arduino and interested in installing small surveillance camera's. Thank you! 👊🏼😎👍🏼🇳🇱

[@maheshjadhav1177]

Wonderful! Waiting to try it out

[@vs_wheart2995]

сначала по акценту явно индус, но потом присмотрелся...таки ... Нью Васюки )))), парень красава , главное все понятно и по делу!!!

[@stylesoftware]

I've used those small buck converters with ESP32, and they fail to give the full 500ma required by wifi and processing. You'll get wifi drop outs and unusual problems. You will be better off with the usual larger aliexpress usual 2amp module.

[@catcatcat5999]

Amazing, thanks !!

[@RiazKhan-ch7vs]

Love the way u explain cheep n best one

[@qzorn4440]

Geee... so many little diy modules.... go for simple, powerful, ez... thanks a lot....:)

[@stvogel]

Thanks for the tutorial. Could you please give a link to what batteryyou used? And how long does it last?

[@yelnatsch517]

What's the power draw on the module? How long would it last on 10000 mAh USB battery pack? Also, can it be made to have motion detection to conserve power?

[@sna31100]

Классная подача, не плохой текст и роскошная инструкция! Спасибо!

[@Ache17013]

Особенно акцент доставил. На воронежский похож. Мои одноклассники в школе также говорили.

[@jeinerox4081]

@@Ache17013 судя по закладкам в браузере, акцент украинский

[@romycruz4498]

Superb tutorial. Thanks for sharing and more tutorial power.

[@TheKaos90]

Interesting idea for paranoids. With a little more setup, you can likely wire it up to the doorbell, and when someone rings it, you get a picture over whatsapp showing who rang the door

[@RedPill420]

@Работаем, брат! I agree. But pretty much everyone uses it in Europe.

[@Duncan_1971]

@Работаем, брат! Why not?

[@AdamSmith-fe9jf]

@Работаем, брат! isn’t WhatsApp encrypted end-to-end?

[@xXXMFAXXx]

Not gonna lie best recommendation by far KZbin besides food and comedy 🤣 you fixing up I rezet mean like that 😂

[@DanielEscasa]

Anyone else chuckle when he took out that “much larger LED”? Or “You won't look at the thing, it'll look at you.”

[@xXXMFAXXx]

@@DanielEscasa lool a thought shit was too big 🤣🌹😃

[@kingsman428]

Why does the phrase *"...5 dollar..."* conjure images of an oriental girl 🤔

[@gr8dvd]

@@kingsman428 Lame!!!

[@kingsman428]

@@gr8dvd Yet here you are, taking the time to let me know your opinion. *Yawn*

[@lucianolizana446]

This is really cool man, thanks !

[@chana100red]

Great Idea as I need to make 2 more cameras for my house.

[@alexfernandez1108]

Really nice project! I want to try it out!

[@asbaDoce]

What is the purpose of the capacitor you added at 05:10? Additional power to enable a safe poweroff shell?

[@sebastiandelavega4978]

awesome review....pretty cool camera...

[@VSPlum]

Thanks for the video. And don't pay attention to people who blaim your English, you're doing everything right. Your English will get better with practice, but even now you have more views than majority or russian vlogers. You're good, keep going.

[@kinangeagle133]

How the hell did you get up that tree?

[@ElectricalPro]

A ladder, lol. I could climb that tree if I wanted to, without any ladder :)

[@AnilArya51]

@@ElectricalPro okay next video how to climb a tree please

[@jcrnda]

@@AnilArya51 How to climb a tree holding camera, battery, tools and cable ties!

[@AnilArya51]

@@jcrnda 😂 I am no expert in climbing trees

[@orionred2489]

Getting up is easy, getting down is hard. He's still up there.

[@alejandrobruyere2923]

CONGRATULATION very good proyect !

[@MyTruckingSkills]

I want to create a battery power wireless backup camera for semi-trucks. using a 2.4ghz - 5.8GHz transmitter or something with a screen in the cab of the truck. I don't want to use wifi or Bluetooth because they lag and lose signal where the camera would be placed. It's 65 feet away and there is a truck and trailer in the way. I found that DJI's drone worked perfectly. but I don't want my camera to fly. Where would I go to get help making this? I am asking you because I need to start somewhere.

[@sandordugalin8951]

This is great. What's the viewing angle on the lens? Would it be possible to swap it out with a wide angle one?

[@willculpepper9637]

The most common angle is 60°. AliExpress and eBay sells separate camera modules of 30°, 120°, 160° with and without IR filters.

[@El.Duder-ino]

Great stuff for spying ;) Thank you for sharing it!

[@cptcrogge]

Thank you, ordered a few

[@lhb4031]

I like that , nice work. Thank you

[@akautosport]

Awesome! Thank you for putting this together. Question, setting this up the way it is shown would only make the camera(s) accessible from inside the network, correct?

[@esaucy1517]

yes

[@esaucy1517]

keep in mind that while the esp32 can broadcast a network. It can also connect to your home network so whatever you have running would be able to access it

[@skyak4493]

Great video! Quick, to the point and almost complete. I just wonder the power draw you experience?

[@whatieatinaweek8326]

Can I use 3. 7 volts

[@pr0xZen]

I wonder this too, the current (or wattage if input voltage has a flexible range).

[@Ebolachicken]

you could add a small solar cell panel

[@Palmit_]

@@whatieatinaweek8326 yes.

[@Palmit_]

@@pr0xZen the current drawn will be drawn, not pushed. it'll take what it needs

[@double-you5130]

finally someone using ispy! : ) thanks man, great video.

[@manc4806]

Nice work & thank you! What is your opinion on interchangeable camera's?

[@bagusharyadijogja689]

I've already subscribed... Good job

[@NoName-pb8bc]

Great! Could you provide link to the 12v to 5v dc-dc converter you use in the vid?

[@sprockylock391]

The propper name for the conver is " buck converter "

[@user-eo8zu2hg1e]

For the power up there on the tree do you use battery or from where?

[@chrishayes5755]

trees naturally have energy if you wire into them. you can pull the electrons from behind the bark and use the roots to ground.

[@sirjamaliii4757]

That is so cool, hopefully we can get motion cameras for drones and rc cars.

[@Jammilogy]

I really like this device! very nice!

[@connecticutaggie]

There is also a more expensive one with a USB port included (ESP-EYE). I have one of those too which makes development a lot easier. I then use the cheaper ones for deployment.

[@DanielEscasa]

Look also at the TTGO, mine came with a detachable antenna

[@pearinnovation1419]

Hey can we use this camera and view video output out of our wifi network and view on website

[@connecticutaggie]

@@pearinnovation1419 I am not sure what you are asking but the camera video is visible over wifi as an http link; but, there is no way to electronically feed an external video in. You would just have to point the camera a the screen. Not great video and not great resolution but if it fits your functional need it would work.

[@BayuAH]

@@connecticutaggie Actually if you want, you can use ffmpeg as relay steaming server for the camera, that relay it to KZbin as live video.

[@connecticutaggie]

@@BayuAH Usually when I want view another display it is connected to a computer so I just use VNC.

[@sonnikdoh2510]

As a professional surveillance installer there are 2 things that drives me insane.... "wireless" and "cloud based". I give estimates to people for installing cameras and they wonder why it cost so much. I tell them the labor for running wire to this location is the issue. "Why don't you use wireless?" ..... I tell them sure we can get a wireless camera there and hope the connection is constant and doesn't drop out when you need it to record an incident. But it will cost more money because I still have to run a wire there for power...... Wireless power is not a thing, solar.... (very rare to find an ideal location for solar) again I hope we don't lose power when you need it.... Batteries?.... you want me to come back every so often and charge you to climb up on a ladder to change out a battery? "Cloud Based System" ..... you're basically renting your system. The NVR's and DVR's of today are equipped with this neat feature called a WAN port... you can view remotely and backup to a offsite NAS aka 'the cloud' and guess what.... you own it.

[@ChrisD__]

Off-site backups are still important though.

[@JAmediaUK]

Wirless is hackable. Wired is too but you have to get physical access to the cable. Re power. Solar + rechargeable batteries can work depending on the location but or course the batteries need chainging every few years anyway. As for clound.... that is owned by some one else and you have no idea who could get access. Also the route to the cloud is an access point for a hacker.

[@XxTWMLxX]

I have a esp32 that can disrupt 2.4 and 5ghz wifi signals. Rendering those wireless cameras useless.

[@JAmediaUK]

@@XxTWMLxX You and a lot of other people. Wifi/bluetooth and indeed mobile phone blockers are not uncommon. The security teams for many VIPs use them regularly (even though many are not legal)

[@Alex-Defatte]

You can't climb a ladder every year? You have to get out more.

[@dreamingrightnow1174]

Nice. Even though you're breaking down, it's the software part is over my head, lol. I'll save your vid and look it over a few more times. I've been wanting to do something like this using the wifi and camera from a cell phone, hidden a different housing.. like a rubix cube or something..? I want it on my window overlooking my front porch. Thank you for the information; very clever. I haven't found anything this close to what I'm trying to do: surveillance camera on my property without a subscription fee or expensive camera purchase.

[@MisterWillX]

Nice work!

[@markissboi3583]

Always starts off cheep $5 but wait there's more . buy this & that & put up a tree 🎄 6:05

[@rachparov]

Wait, there's more!

[@rachparov]

@James Walkington Just put the true price sir ffs

[@rachparov]

@James Walkington Yeh.

[@robertwells3797]

@@rachparov it's under $20... Have you tried looking at CCTV cameras?

[@rachparov]

@@robertwells3797 Dude i am well aware of CCTV cameras which is why i came to see this video first lol... If it's under 20$ then change the thumbnail and the title to fit the correct price, what's so hard to understand? If you are worried i'm pissed off about it, don't, i don't care much.

[@brianbrewster6532]

This was simply amazing! You accent was a bit hard to understand at times, and you might want to consider adding subtitles, friend. But otherwise, this was a top notch video. I subscribed!

[@thejeffbomb]

I like how he sounds like Chekhov from Star Trek. Adds extra clout to the technology!

[@jeremymorrison263]

Getouttamyhead bro! I said repitune when he started talking.

[@jochem3634]

i could perfectly understand him and i'm not even native

[@MrBa143]

@@jochem3634 Same. Subtitles is abit overkill.. at that point its probably the individual that needs to be a better listener

[@zakksmith6888]

@@MrBa143 i mean, if you know sum bout this modules its not hard to understand just by looking xD but i must agree, it is a very good video

[@mmnyako]

Beautiful, thanks for sharing.

[@HomeMadeCnc]

Thanks for the education!

[@BertHeideveld]

Hello thank you for this beautiful work. My question is: How do you switch the LED on or off via your sketch? Is there a button, I can't find anything. Greetings Bert

[@BenState]

surely software.

[@moodberry]

I liked it, but how did you get 12v up the tree? Perhaps you had solar?

[@commentatron]

I assumed a branch circuit from the house.

[@MichaelMorlan1]

Thanks for the walk-through of the uploading process. But, you jumped right over how to add the ESP camera to iSpy. What camera settings are needed to add this camera to iSpy/Agent? Thanks.

[@am6066]

Great video!

[@radiamoon2395]

thank you sir, you've helped me for my final project i have just a problem with finding an esp i didn't find any version. is it the same if i use the wifi ship of a broken tablet? i'm thinking of using a bluetooth too.

[@NoNick1337]

Pretty cool. I might give this a try bit I would prefer something with nightvision for 24/7 outdoors surveillance.

[@christianmingle3394]

For $5? Unlikely lol

[@user-nt5et9jb4h]

Very well made!

[@jscollett]

That is pretty damn awesome!

[@AeroGraphica]

Hope you have used neutral (non-acetic) silicone ! Acetic silicone (the kind that smells vinegar) can ruin your electronics in a few days. Specially in a closed space.

[@kotzver6332]

Хэллоу, индус )))

[@kamilkarbari4906]

Amazing idea hatsoff from india👍

[@TBL_stevennelson]

I think this is a good topic you can get many views if you do a update video with more options and a deep drive in to the idea of DIY cameras and what people what them to do

[@overlycranked8674]

Could you suggest a small enough solar charger to power this system?

[@DigitalBhangari]

Do these cameras have removable ir filters to allow night vision?

[@johnhricko8212]

very cool! well done!

[@SakellarisNikolaos]

good presentation

[@Thejesusbriales]

Very nice video! I got one myself after seeing this but the image quality is much much poorer in the one I got. I wonder if someone else experience this. Maybe the unit I got is defective? It definitely doesn't look like the images captured in this video, but things are much more blurry and it is almost impossible to identify anything.

[@TerryRGraham]

These things are crap. The image quality is worse than a 70's toy camera. I didn't expect much at this price but I thought it would be slightly better.

[@user-dj9qi9jt1b]

Лет ми спик фром май харт: Когда человек правильно говорит на английском, акцент не имеет никакого значения. Go ahead buddy!

[@Romgenas]

Дааа, но эт не тот англицкий

[@B0CT0K]

Абсолютно согласен!

[@LeetsGoAI]

он неправильно слова произносит...

[@barry.anderberg]

Very nice!! I want to use when visit US and A!!

[@redzebra6688]

You‘re amazing 🤩

[@stilltocool]

this is great can you build this to work off sim wifi for extended range?

[@MyEyesBled]

Cool video! Thanks BORAT!!!!

[@eden4949]

Makes me wanna set up a full surveillance system around the house

[@Delali]

Really innovative what you did with the changes in the code and flash light. I made a video about how to repeat existing Wi-Fi networks to extend the range on my channel using an 8sp8266. I'm wondering if its possible to port forward this esp32 video over the internet or to another location and view remotely using the same Wi-Fi extender idea.

[@davidyusaku]

Whoa u use 8266 as a repeater? Aint that makes it very hot?

[@Delali]

@@davidyusaku Actually it was not Hot. It was just as warm as it is when used in projects in which there was constant communication. Try it out. You might like it.

[@korrupted80]

Do you have any information on how the ESP board can be used as a mini repeater? I would be most interested.

[@maxstripeGaming]

yes but i recommend having a login on the esp then so randoms cant view your stream

[@NeimorJeck]

какой чудный английский, милота))

[@user-ix5jl2xe9i]

как у меня в пятом классе, когда не заморачивались с произношением)))