LilyGO has launched a new ESP32-S3 WiFi & BLE camera board with the T-Camera S3 also featuring a small display, a PIR motion sensor, and a microphone, as well as an optional plastic shell.
The T-Camera S3 is an evolution of the TTGO T-Camera ESP32 board introduced in 2019 with many of the same features, but the ESP32 microcontroller has been replaced with an ESP32-S3 microcontroller with vector extensions that makes it suitable for machine learning and computer vision applications. The new board also comes with a larger 16 MB SPI flash, more I/Os, and a few other small changes.
T-Camera S3 specifications:
- ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 wireless module
- SoC – ESP32-S3FN16R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ 240 MHz (Note: this SKU is not listed in the official ESP32-S3 datasheet) with
- 2.4 GHz 802.11n WiFI 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity
- Memory – 8MB PSRAM
- Storage – 16MB SPI flash
- SoC – ESP32-S3FN16R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ 240 MHz (Note: this SKU is not listed in the official ESP32-S3 datasheet) with
- Camera – 2MP OV2640 camera (Optional 5MP OV2640)
- Display – 0.96″ 128×64 OLED display connected via SSD1306 I2C display controller
- Audio – Microphone
- USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming
- Sensors
- AS312 PIR motion sensor
BME280 pressure, humidity, and temperature I2C sensor
- Expansion
- 5-pin connector with IO16, IO15, 5V,3.3V, and GND
- 5-pin header with 3x GPIO, 3.3V, and GND
- 6-pin header with UART (Tx, Rx), and 4x GPIO.
- Misc – Reset button (under the camera) , Power and boot buttons,
LED - Power Supply
- 5V via USB Type-C port
- Support for LiPo battery via 2-pin header and AXP210 charging chip
- Dimensions
- Board only: 69 x 28 x 18.5 mm (including PIR dome)
- Shell only: 75 x 35 x 12 mm
LilyGO says the T-Camera S3 board can be programmed with the Arduino IDE and VS code. The company would usually provide a link to the repository with some code samples, but this time around it was a little bit harder to find, but I could eventually locate the “LilyGo-Cam-ESP32S3” repository with examples for the camera, PMU, screen, microphone, as well as a voice wakeup sample, but nothing the PIR motion sensor that I can see. Anything related to the earlier T-SIMCAM ESP32-S3 development board may also help to get started.
LILYGO T-Camera S3 board can be purchased for $18.68 including shipping, or $21.23 if you also need the plastic shell.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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No SD card slot? That is annoying if you want to store a lot of video.
Uncompressed video? How are you supposed to compress it with ESP32?
Some simple delta compression (lossless) or even MJPEG should be doable with adjusted FPS or resolution. Otherwise it could only used for still images.
I hope this gets esp home support!
In my understanding you only need to figure out camera pinout. All parts have support already, isn’t it?
The T-SIMCAM ESP32-S3 CAM board supports ESPHome, so while it’s not listed for the T-Camera S3, adding support might not be too complicated.
Item no longer available with the Aliexpress’ link. Looks like it was a promotional price for 30 first orders…