Dedicated hardware

[nliaudat]

Here is a new board that can replace the esp32-cam with PoE support.

https://hackaday.io/project/193356-esp32-stick-camesp32-s3activepassivepoecamera

The board developper knows ai-on-the-edge and is open to make a custom board for our needs !

I've asked :

• 4 RGB leds for backlight in series
• 4 mounting holes
• 1 sdcard

do you have any further requests ?

@jomjol @caco3

[jomjol]

One major drawback of the ESP32CAM is the high power consumption in deep sleep due to the permanent power to the camera and the high current for the power converter.

If we think about going for battery version the following things are in my mind:

• If we think about a battery drivern version, a complete shutdown of the power consumption for the camera as well as the sd-card with a transitor with very low power consumption by itself, that could be switched with one of the GPIOs would be great.
• Also if a power connector for a 3.7 V LiPolymer accu would be great. I have tested 3.7V LiPo-battery and it is sufficient for the camera, sd-card and internal flashlight.
• In order to controll the battery charging state a high ohmic voltage divider to controll the battery voltage with an analog port would be cool, too. It also should be switched of with the transistor to avoid power loss during deep sleep.

4 MB of PSRAM is a clear must.

[nliaudat]

Response from @allexoK :
So the list of requirements goes as follows:

• 4 RGB (WS2812 is led strip) LEDs connected in series to GPIO12 according to the https://jomjol.github.io/AI-on-the-edge-device-docs/External-LED/ documentation.

• SD-card reader, (SD card connected via SPI?(no need for SDIO, right?). If SPI, can it it be same SPI line as W5500 Ethernet chip?).

• 4 Mounting holes (M2 size? Positioned at the corners at the board?(If yes, I will move the Eth connector or increase the board size)).

• Esp32-S3 with at least 4MB PSRAM.

• Low-power transistor shutdown of camera and SD card.(Note to myself: don't forget, to do the smart way, so Esp32-S3 doesn't have to 'hold' the pin(so it can deep sleep))

• Battery connector(+Battery charge/protection circuits?).(Battery charging with 500 mA?-If yes it will need at least 500mA battery, which is, I think, minimum to reliably power SD card+Esp32-S3)

• Battery measurement with high-ohmic divider (can be shut down).

• Size requirements?(Two side assembly=smaller board=bigger price)

• Any specific connectors, pin positions?(Stemma QT can be cool to solderlessly daisy-chain Adafruit/Sparkfun sensors/displays via I2C?)

[yoshimo]

I found it difficult to get a proper case that suits the needs for the specific meters around the house.
So a custom board should be accompanied by a set of 3d models and a table that says: you need this model x for your meter y.

What about connections? Wifi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Thread, Matter, Ethernet for data are options and then you could think about powering over usb-c , micro usb or ethernet.
It is not all about battery power which can run out in a dark cellar

[allexoK]

Speaking about other protocols, it may be beneficial to make Mikrobus-style female pin headers. (Just a suggestion)
Viz pic, sorry for dirt, it's a very old and very dead board:)


Click modules are costly, but are standardized.
It's possible to insert different communication modules (like this https://www.mikroe.com/zigbee-click or https://www.mikroe.com/lr-click). Maybe later the custom Click-shield can be made for the chosen protocols.
I also have experience with Esp32-C6 design, which supports all the protocols you mentioned, but it will not have enough pins for Camera+SD+Ethernet.

[Slider0007]

4 RGB (WS2812 is led strip) LEDs connected in series to GPIO12 according to the https://jomjol.github.io/AI-on-the-edge-device-docs/External-LED/ documentation.

• In my opinion, just use a free suitable GPIO. Software wise it has not to be mandatorily GPIO12.

SD-card reader, (SD card connected via SPI?(no need for SDIO, right?). If SPI, can it it be same SPI line as W5500 Ethernet chip?).

• I'd suggest using SDMMC interface (available on ESP32S3) for SD card because quicker and dedicated or at least a dedicated SPI to avoid performance issues.

• Interference reduced routing of camera clocks (up to 20Mhz) and far away from WLAN antenna to avoid wlan connection issues. With ESP32-CAM this is a big hardware drawback. Lots of issues are related to this.

• Additional external wlan antenna connector, internal antenna as default

• Powering via USB should still be possible

• Min. 8MB RAM / min. 8MB flash

Size requirements?(Two side assembly=smaller board=bigger price)

• In my opinion size does not matter.

[caco3]

• I would suggest to have an external antenna by default as most need one anyway.
• PoE is cool, but most users will not have Ethernet in reach, thus 5V (USB-Wall-Charger) is more practical.
• If we go for a custom design, I it would be nice to have 8MB RAM (id we can fully support it which is not possible with the currently used ESP32-CAM.
• Also note that it seems to use the S3 CPU which currently is not supported by our project.
• If we go for such hardware, we have to think about what to do with the current hardware. Do we continue to develop or both? Or will be split the firmware to 2 separate parts?
• The price will be higher for this custom hardware by several factors. Will users be willing to pay this? IMO the current hardware works well (once you get a board with 4 MB of RAM).

In any way, I am an electrical engineer and could help on the schematics review and commissioning.

[allexoK]

• Yeap, the CPU used is Esp32-S3. Unfortunately, vanilla Esp32 doesn't have enough pins to run Ethernet+SD+Camera:( (Maybe possible if Ethernet+SD share the SPI)

[allexoK]

Hi @caco3, could you please take a look at this schematic? It's a direct copy of my Esp32-Stick-PoE-A-Cam board, upgraded to support an SD card, 4x WS2812B LEDs, battery charging, protection, and measurement, as well as sleep mode turn-off circuitry. The PoE, Ethernet and Camera circuitry should still work since I didn’t change them.
I couldn’t find an Esp32-S3 module that supports an external antenna, so I'm unsure whether to take the easier path by using the ESP32-S3-WROOM-1U version(external antenna only) or use a bare ESP32-S3R8(antenna RF matching may be painful)...
Schematic_esp32-S3-POE-A-CAM+_2024-10-10-2.pdf

[allexoK]

Hey everyone,
So ping me after you reach some kind of consensus:

• PoE, Ethernet board with Esp32-S3 (customer price: 35-40USD for 1 piece), according to requirements you specified.
• Slightly upgraded Esp32 Board without PoE(customer price: around 14USD for 1 piece), but according to other requirements you specified (battery support, better shutdown for sleep modes, leds, mounting holes)
• Stick to the existing hardware
• Some other variant

[nliaudat]

Just found : https://oshwlab.com/sentsor-project/sentsor-core-esp32-embed or https://oshwlab.com/sentsor-project/sentsor-core-esp32-micro
just missing the cam part ;(

[caco3]

I do not want to be in the way for new hardware, I mentioned my points above.
But I think the reason this project is used so often is because the hardware is cheap and easy to get. Yes, there are bad boards, but once you get a good one, it provides whatever is needed. Because of this I do not really see the need for custom hardware, at least not as a replacement.

[Dennis1000]

Any latest news on the POE device?

[Fywqdk]

Personally I agree that while PoE is nice, it's probably a lot more niche? In my own situation I have my watermeter in an isolated well in the middle of my front yard lawn and it matters little if it is an ethernet cable or an AC power cable, it's not going to be feasible for me. Battery-optimized hardware on the other hand is probably the only solution here.

One thing I wonder is if LORAwan would be nice? The range is good and as far as I know it's also fairly low power compared to wifi, and thus more battery friendly. The downside is a receiver is needed and it's less plug-and-play. But would probably excel since the data manipulation is running on-chip before transmitting.

[allexoK]

Hey @nliaudat @caco3 @jomjol , long time no see:) I think I will have some free time this month, is your PoE hardware request still relevant? (Perhaps you already developing something, don't really want to be a competition :) ).

[Dennis1000]

+1 for POE

[nliaudat]

Hi,
Actually, esp32-cam is end of life and it will be waste of time to recreate one.
There are new interesting boards like Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32S3 Sense or T-Camera S3

I mean the support of S3 boards is the goal to achieve.

Only my opinion.
Regards

[SybexX]

this is a much better board: https://www.ebay.de/itm/315533473713?_skw=esp32+s3+n16r8&itmmeta=01J9KXSV94QNJJ0427FT0CZB6J&hash=item497742b7b1%3Ag%3AqYMAAOSwB8xmAUkF&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKmFQNea1faWev22naVLZv0AhaGIYkzhxCLtuaJSZysTrJ7zpuycBRgKan%2BjQWvZuJzpZ%2FSUNZQO3y6G8j59swoyhCDvSO4czI6dV%2Fa79E2i4hilQEgmurHlcL%2FXFKrw6if8SROUDCzCEq69u9LK%2BupNw5%2F00j8L%2FUEn2Ufuah0H5bFsh91jL3ZycvX2MEV3CqSsFBj9vszmkcBcXTdNL5JLwKkPQV1CDTHWILZe2qHhGPMXVq%2BKSyv%2FjqYUzmA1yj4B%2F7MWC%2BLlGR5KmWwRHHnhQxQg4tOJciiXNkUu9L3nQQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBM3LTn_cxk&var=613992247099

[nliaudat]

It depends on your needs :

• Seeed Studio Sense as building battery support
• Lilygo has a big RGB led
• Yours (no marks) is cheaper

[SybexX]

• The board has an RGB LED, which is completely sufficient.
• The board has the same size/structure, so no changes to the existing case are necessary

[nliaudat]

I bought one to test the compilation changes

[allexoK]

The ESP32-S3 is nice, but I'm fine with either option. If the vanilla ESP32 is better from a software point of view, I'll make the board with the ESP32. However, it may lack enough pins to control the circuitry in sleep mode. Do you think it would be easier to add IO expander support to AI-on-the-edge-device or port it to the ESP32-S3?

[nliaudat]

https://wiki.seeedstudio.com/XIAO_ESP32S3_Consumption/

[allexoK]

I think you misunderstood me:) I want to make a custom hardware for AI-on-the-Edge, but I'm not sure whether to use the ESP32 or ESP32-S3. As @caco3 and @jomjol pointed out in the past, there is currently no support for the ESP32-S3, and there are no plans to support it (#2721, #2801 (comment)). So, my question is: As of today, is this still the case, or are there plans to support the ESP32-S3 in the future?

[SybexX]

I'm currently at it, I just have to rework the whole IO implementation^^
Many of the necessary changes have already been added to the main branch/16.0.0-RC4.
The performance is simply great compared to the normal ESP32^^
@Slider0007 has already implemented it: https://github.com/Slider0007/AI-on-the-edge-device/tree/esp32s3wroom

[allexoK]

Great, that's really all I wanted to know. Thanks a lot for your swift response!

[caco3]

Just some thoughts:
The benefit we have now with the existing ESP32-CAM hardware is that everybody can buy it wherever he wants.
If we build our own, specific hardware, it gets more tricky:
Either somebody steps in and sells it (if possible worldwide), or we are able to provide it fully opensource and with suggested places where to produce and fully assemble it.

If we can not provide this service longterm, I think it is better to stick to commercially available hardware.

One option would be to support a commercial board and additionally our optimized board. We then would have to provide the firmware for both versions or the firmware would have to support both.

Strictly speaking, if we support multiple hardwares, we also should test with them or at least provide support for all of them.

[allexoK]

Selling worldwide is no problem for me, I already sell on Mouser , Tindie, Elecrow, Amazon and on my local store in Czech Republic :)

[firebowl]

I'll add my own comment here. I don't need POE but generally LAN because the WLAN coverage at the location is very poor or non-existent.

[caco3]

IMO PoE would imply that Ethernet works as well.

[firebowl]

Sorry, I expressed myself badly. LAN would be enough for me, of course that is part of PoE.

[nliaudat]

For references, this is the led WS2812B parameters :

[GPIO]
;IO0 = input disabled 10 false false 
;IO1 = input disabled 10 false false 
;IO3 = input disabled 10 false false 
;IO4 = built-in-led disabled 10 false false 
IO12 = external-flash-ws281x disabled 10 true true 
;IO13 = input-pullup disabled 10 false false 
LEDType = WS2812B
LEDNumbers = 4
LEDColor = 255 255 255

very simple, but it takes me time to discover as the WS2812B is not clearly referenced in schematics.
Regards

[nliaudat]

The card is working as expected.
Not tested POE, battery power, I²C connector

[nliaudat]

can you output the 3d file from easyeda ?
I want to make a box, but know only onpenscad.
I tried fusion 360 with no success.
Regards

[allexoK]

Sure, Here is the OBJ.zip, dimensions.pdf and dxf.zip. I think that's all I can get from EasyEda...
Regards

[nliaudat]

here is the corrected stl (1/10 scale).
OBJ_ESP32-POE-A_CAM_ver.1_scale10.stl.zip

I haven't time to work on it for now.
sry

[nliaudat]

@ allexoK
I saw the i2c bus for camera on GPIO4 and GPIO5 was pulled down by 10k resistor.
I mean it's better to pull up with 4.7k isnt it ?

[allexoK]

@nliaudat take a closer look, it's pulled UP to 3.3V_PER which is 3.3V power for peripherals including camera, so it should work out-of-the-box:) Speaking about resistor value, both 4.7k and 10k should work I guess

[nliaudat]

For fast debug, I've made an esphome firmware :
https://github.com/nliaudat/meter-reader/tree/main/esphome
Actually working for camera, wifi, ws2812 led
Lan and sdcard haven't be tested

[allexoK]

Thanks!

[nliaudat]

sdcard is now working with esphome version.
That was a bit difficult cause main changes in SPI/SDMMC were done in last esp-idf version used in esphome 2025.7
lan is working as expected.

All tests runs perfectly

[nliaudat]

I've added a tflite component now :
https://github.com/nliaudat/meter-reader/tree/main/esphome/components/meter_reader_tflite
compile, but do not process any image actually.

meter_reader_tflite:
  model: "dig-class100-0180-s2-q.tflite"  # Must be in same directory as YAML
  input_width: 96
  input_height: 96
  confidence_threshold: 0.7
  tensor_arena_size: "500KB" 

any help is wanted in the dev branch.
Thanks.

I still works on a "only camera" version and post processing the images in docker:
https://github.com/nliaudat/meter-reader/tree/main
I mean it can separate the hard from the soft

[allexoK]

I'am currently debugging the lora extension module.

I would be happy to help after I'am done with it. Anything specific I can help you with? :)

[ChrisDomo226]

Hey there, thank you all for your excellent work, especially @allexoK !
I would like to order a board of yours, but I was asking myself if there is case available?
Thanks in advance!

[SybexX]

https://www.espressif.com/sites/default/files/documentation/esp32-s3-wroom-1_wroom-1u_datasheet_en.pdf

[ChrisDomo226]

Hey @allexoK , I'm still struggling to get it running :-( Short recap: I started the setup with your pre-flashed version, but the WiFi connection was very weak, so I couldn't finish it properly. But I was able to see the livestream in the first step. So I installed an external antenna, but from that point I was not able to get through the setup, I couldn't see the livestream and if I startet the first step it seemed, that the connection broke.
So I thought I may have corrupted the firmware with my first tries and yesterday I decided to flash the firmware agein. The WebInstaller says, that my "ESP32-S3 board is not supported" when I'm in boot mode (your webinstaller, not the generic one). So I flashed it manually and since then nothing works anymore. The device doesn't create an AP without the wlan.ini, it doesn't connect with WiFi details in wlan.ini, the orange LED onboard seems "dimmed", before it was bright, just as the green one, now it seems "dimmed". I'm not sure, what I did wrong :/ Is there any possibility that you have an idea? If you prefer the direct communication, I could answer to your mail sending me the tracking information after ordering the board? Thanks in advance!

[allexoK]

Hi @ChrisDomo226, I will verify and record the whole process tomorrow after I get to work where I have my boards, I'm sure we will figure it out! Send me an email to aleksei.karavaev@prokyber.cz.

update: My bad, I built the webinstaler from the main branch...

[kekeseb]

Hi @allexoK, I just received my board. I can boot and connect through WiFi, I can also power it through PoE, but the ethernet link does not come up. Any tips?

[kekeseb]

Hi @allexoK, I just received my board. I can boot and connect through WiFi, I can also power it through PoE, but the ethernet link does not come up. Any tips?

I needed to create a lan.ini on the SD card to enable to ethernet port

[nliaudat]

s3 board now fully supported :
#3930

[allexoK]

Cool, thanks!

[allexoK]

Hello everyone, so i have an update on ready housings.
Anyone would be interested in any of these cases adapted for Ai-On-The-Edge-Cam board:
https://arduino-projekte.info/collections/ai-on-the-edge

[Deckard99]

@allexoK

that would be a nice addition. I f.i. would need aote_case_v1_sw_83 adapted for your board. Just received two of them (one for playing around).

I guess using your board with POE might put to much load on one side when using PoE.

btw. thanks for designing this cool piece of hardware. I guess a good thing for all that do not have much of wlan reception in their cellar. ;)

[zero-zero-null]

Any updates on the a 3D printable water meter housing side? I would really want a water meter tower that would be compatible with the AI-on-the-edge-device and this case: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6913537/files case that was showed here earlier. It would matter if the cam casing would be mounted on top with a vice or a rubber band.

I searched all places, but it seems all water meter setups are made for standard ESP32CAM devices.

How have others mounted their AI-on-the-Edge-Devices on their water meters?

[Frittenstaebchen]

Hi, ist es möglich einen ESP32-S3-ETH von Waveshare zu nutzen, möchte den RJ45 Anschluss verwenden da mein WIFi zu schlecht ist im Keller, oder wäre es möglich bei einem ESP32-CAM zusätzlich ein W5500 Modul dranzuhängen um den Ethernetport anstatt WIFI zu nutzen?

[friedpa]

@allexoK Just received your board incl. the LoRa modul. I guess the H2 LoRa module connector in the schematics is wrong. It is exactly the other way around, or (Pin1 is SDA, Pin8 is Rx)? If in the drawing correct, than the printing on the board is wrong.

[GavinB1973]

Are you planning on using LoRa to communicate back to Home Assistant. If so, what are you using as the LoRa bridge to HA? I’ve on of these boards on order and I’m thinking of using the Shelly LoRa, but I’m not sure if this will work.

[allexoK]

You can try connecting the boards to TheThingsNetwork(maybe there are gateways in your area), then integrating TheThingsNetwork with your HomeAssistant

[allexoK]

@friedpa oh, seems like the confusion comes from connector H2 being rotated 180 degrees. Note that pin 1(rectangular pad) of H1 and H2 head different directions.
Thanks, I will rename the pins on the schematics and rotate the header to avoid confusion.

[friedpa]

@allexoK OK, so my lack of understanding.... sorry!

[allexoK]

No problem, I should fix it to make it more readable

[friedpa]

@allexoK: I wanted to interconnect the Main Board with the LoRa Board, but how can I setup the LoRa Board? Is there any Documentation, which I can download?

[allexoK]

I usually pre-flash the boards I sent with Ai-On-The-Edge-Cam. I use this firmware I2CShuttleSlave.
Here is more detailed tutorial on how to set it up with the main board: https://www.elecrow.com/sharepj/ai-on-the-edge-cam-analog-water-meter-digitalizer-1058.html

[friedpa]

@allexoK One more question: Is it also possible to connect the LoRa Module with another LoRa Module directly without using The Things Network? E.g. I have at home a Lora T-Beam HW running and wanted to connect your AotE HW to this LoraWAN HW.

[allexoK]

Yes absolutely, but you would have to rewrite the extension module code. The device must act as I2C slave, but instead of sending data via LoraWan it should use classic Lora. No need to change Ai-On-The-Edge-Cam code.

I remember testing device to device communication, and I'm 95% sure I used this example as a starting point: https://github.com/HelTecAutomation/Heltec_ESP32/tree/master/examples/LoRaBasic
And here is a framework I used: https://github.com/Heltec-Aaron-Lee/WiFi_Kit_series
HT-CT62 module used in extension module is basically Esp32-C3+Sx1262

[friedpa]

@allexoK My programming skills are very limited. Could you please support me with your device to divice commication sample, that would really help! Thanks!

[allexoK]

Hi, so I got them! Should be available here: https://github.com/allexoK/Lora-Shuttle-examples

[zero-zero-null]

Wanted to give a PSA. The AI-on-the-edge-device does not like the OV5640 cam at all. It runs super super hot. This seem to be and issue with some boards: Reddit Post

I switched the cam to a standard OV2460 and the heat issue disappeared immediately.

[SybexX]

@zero-zero-null To use the OV5640 you need DeepSleep, otherwise it gets too hot