ESP32-CAM breakout

While I'm waiting for a Brian Lough to make a proper breakout board I scratch built one for the fantastic ESP32-CAM board.

It's a bit ugly but it lets me program these up easily while I'm testing my code. The reset line isn't brought out on the headers. So you have to push the button on the underside of the module while simultaneously pushing the 'program' button I put on the breakout. Fiddly but it works.

Something I've also noticed is that if you use a Sparkfun 3.3V FTDI basic board to power the ESP32-CAM 3.3V line directly you get awful problems with power brownouts. This means that you might be able to program the board but it won't reliably boot and work. This isn't surprising, the board needs quite a chunk of power.

So I'm using a Sparkfun 3.3V FTDI basic with the power link changed on the back to 5V. This connects the 5V from the USB straight through to the device. The logic level is still 3.3V, so you won't kill the ESP32.


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