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Time lapse Camera

truglodite

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Description

This is my enclosure design for the Arducam ESP32s UNO PSRAM board, a power switch, and 900mah lipo. I use this board to do timelapse videos. It gets over 24hrs battery life snapping 1600x1200 jpgs every 5sec, and the whole assembly costs just north of $30. The pcb has a built in lipo charger which is nice for this application. The 4mb psram allows the board to do AI stuff like face recognition etc, but that is not used in this case.

*Printing:*

Use supports on the bottom if you are picky about your counterbores, but it is not necessary for a functioning and good looking enclosure. Otherwise, it's an easy print and your usual settings should work. Note that the circuit stays cool, but PLA could warp if this thing is left in direct sunlight for long periods of time.

*Hardware:* Arducam ESP32s UNO PSRAM: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07W8SMFTK/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza

1s900mAh lipo (preferably with battery protection circuit): https://www.amazon.com/AKZYTUE-Battery-Rechargeable-Lithium-Connector/dp/B07TWHHCNJ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=900mah+lipo&qid=1632438525&s=electronics&sr=1-1

Slider switch: https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Position-Panel-Slide-Switch/dp/B008DFYHV2/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=slide+switch+7%2F8%22&qid=1632437137&s=industrial&sr=1-2

micro sd-card (~1GB will outlast the battery listed above)

3@ M3x12 bolts (10-20mm long is also OK)

You may also need some wire and heatshrink to finish out your kit.

*Assembly:*

First solder up a switch/connector harness to go between your board and lipo. Mount the switch to the top, ensuring the on/off direction matches the markings on the outside of the enclosure. Now fish the battery leads of the harness from the front of the arducam board, through 2 spare holes in the board, and pull them through to the back side of the board. Insert the arducam board into the top of the enclosure, pulling slack on the wires as you go and being careful not to pinch wires (also avoid putting the wires in front of the LEDs). Now solder or otherwise connect the leads to the lipo, and insulate them properly. Position the lipo so it is more or less centered between the holes and sides, and use tape (preferably Kapton tape) to secure the lipo to the back of the arducam board. Use additional tape as needed to organize wires and keep them away from being pinched. Now install the bottom of the enclosure using 3@ M3x12 bolts; the holes are designed to be self tapping. For convenient operation, the sdcard and USB are accessible, and the LED indicators are all visible after assembly.

*Software:*

The process of finding and installing the board files in Arduino is very similar to the esp8266 projects... there is a board manager URL (google it). I suggest you start by getting the ArduCAM_ESP32_PSRAM_OV2640_Capture2SD.ino example sketch working on your board. It took an issue report on GitHub (and waiting for the fix to be merged) before Arduino would even download the correct libraries successfully. There was a silly error in arducam's example sketch too (2x Serial.begin(...) statements). I submitted an issue for that one as well, but it's an easy to fix for testing if you have to do it. Once you know everything works, you can modify and upload the sketch I created for this project if you wish. There are 2 things to adjust at the top... image interval and image resolution.

My code is written for battery powered time-lapse. It was slapped together in a hurry and isn't perfect... especially when it comes to sd card error handling. You may experience a randomly overwritten file here and there as a result; nothing that will make editing hard or ruin a video, but it's something to be aware of. Also keep in mind with all the peripherals integrated on this board, you are left with just one free GPIO pin to do things with (GPIO33). Maybe use a multi-position switch with a voltage ladder to allow easy changes to image interval and/or image resolution. It's also esp32 based; so you can even set it up as a webserver for live view and adjustments on your phone etc. Just be careful as those fancy wifi features will eat the batteries fast.

Here is the boards link you have to add to arduino (in preferences, just like adding esp8266 or esp32 libraries): https://www.arducam.com/downloads/esp32_uno_psram/package_ArduCAM_ESP32_PSRAM_index.json

*Operation:*

To charge the lipo, plug the cam board into a USB port or charger, then turn on the power switch. An orange led in the lower square window indicates charging, and it will turn green when fully charged. To take timelapse photos, simply turn the switch on. Turn off to stop photos. The camera will also take photos while it is being charged. While running, an orange led will be dim lit in the top square window; this LED will flash brightly when a photo is being saved to the sd card. Avoid SD corruption by only turning the switch off right after it flashes.

Enjoy tinkering!