Crappy Camp Cam Components

Parts

• ESP32-S3 CAM WiFi Development Board with OV5640* (Make sure to select the one with OV5640 camera module)
• LiPo battery*
• Lanyard*
• MicroSD Card* (I used 32GB ones, because they are fast and come FAT32 preformatted)
• PCB (design files will be available soon)
• 3D printed case (STL files above)
• Double sided tape for holding the battery in place

* Affiliate links

Caution

Make sure the battery polarity is correct when connecting it to the board. The ones I linked have the correct 2mm 2pin JST connector, but the polarity is reversed compared to the dev board. I had to swap the wires on the battery connector to make it work.

Note

You can also use the OV2640 camera module, but it has lower resolution (2MP) and is not as good in low light conditions. Both work with the same code and PCB. So you can use either one.

PCB

Caution

I did not update the PCB design files yet, so be aware of this issue if you want to use the PCB design files:

The development board uses a AMS1117 voltage regulator, which has a voltage drop of 1.2V. This means that the battery voltage must be >4.5V to power the board sufficiently. The LiPo battery has 4.2V when fully charged and drops to 3.7V and below when discharged, so this is not enough to power the board.

Because I didn’t have time to order new PCBs before WHY Camp 2025, I had to use a workaround. I desoldered the AMS1117 from the development boards and replaced it with a LDL1117S33R. (Something you must do BEFORE soldering the dev. board to the PCB!) The LDL1117S33R has a voltage drop of only 0.35V, which allows the board to work with a 3.7V battery.

KiCAD Files