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<span style="color: red;">This code is depreciated and will not be maintained any more!</span>

water-meter-house-automation

Software for a water meter measurement to provide an JPG-Image of a watermeter with an OV2640 camera with internal flash LED

Changelog

2.4.0 Wifi-Handling

Implementation of Reconnect during loop (if WiFi gets lost)
Change of Blinking behaviour: 3x short if no WiFi connections (every 10s) and one time 3x1s after connection to WiFi

2.3.1 WifiReconnect

Update WifiReconnect (based on input from watchkerb from iobroker forum)

2.3.0 ESP32-CAM only

Improved Watchdog
Implementation of OTA update modus
Parametrized Delay (default = 2.5s)

Full Change History

ESP32-CAM - Hardware

The ESP32-CAM camera requires a simple modification to it's default focus setting to make it suitable for use close to the meter face.

ESP32-CAM - Software

ESP32-CAM_Server-GitHub
Flashing onto the board is done using an FTDI-Flasher and the board is addressed as "ESP32-Wrover Module"

Functionality

This is an HTTP-Webserver, sending an image of the OV2640 camera on request and additionally switching on illumination. The code is implemented in the Arduino IDE and is directly related to an selfmade water meter for house automation. For the housing etc. see https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3860911

An overview about the complete system can be seen here: https://github.com/jomjol/water-meter-measurement-system

Commands

http://IP-ADRESS/lighton - Switching the LED-lights on
http://IP-ADRESS/lightoff - Switching the LED-lights off
http://IP-ADRESS/capture - Returns a single image
http://IP-ADRESS/capture_with_light - Turn light on, send JPG, Turn light off

Usefull for ESP32-CAM with onboard flash LED only:

http://IP-ADRESS/flashon - Switching the onboard LED-flash on (GPIO4)
http://IP-ADRESS/flashoff - Switching the onboard LED-flash off (GPIO4)
http://IP-ADRESS/capture_with_flashlight - Turn internal flash light on, send JPG, Turn flash light off
to be extended in future versions ...

The picture properties and the illumination can be adjusted by adding the following parameters. The parameters can be used indivdually or combinded:

http://IP-ADRESS/capture?quality=10&size=UXGA - Picture with high quality and resolution 1600x1200 pixel
http://IP-ADRESS/capture_with_flashlight?quality=10&size=UXGA - Picture with high quality and resolution 1600x1200 pixel
http://IP-ADRESS/capture_with_flashlight?delay=5000 - Waiting time between turning on the light and taking the picture in milliseconds (default value is 2500ms)

Meaning of parametes:

Parameter	Meaning	Range/Value	Example
quality	Quality setting for jpeg	0 - 63 (0 = highest quality; 63 = lowest quality, default = 10	quality=10
size	JPEG resolution of out put	QVGA (320x240), VGA (640x480), SVGA (800x600), XGA (1024x768), SXGA (1280x1024), UXGA (1600x1200), default = SVGA	size=SVGA
delay	Waiting time between light on and take a picture	Time in ms	delay=5000

Info to Watchdog

In some cases my ESP32-CAM get stuck without any reaction. The reason for this is unknown. To restore it a reboot is necessary. I implemented a watchdog, that triggers after 30 minutes. It is reseted allways after taking a picture. As my system takes pictures every 10 minutes, it should only fire in case it gets stuck.

Compling Code

The Arduino Code is in the subdirectory "ESP32-CAM_Server-GitHub". In order to compile, the ESP32 developement environment for ESP32-CAM and the Neopixel Library needs to be installed through the Arduino Library Controll. The WLAN-SSID and PASSWORD needs to be updated in the code, in order to access the local network. After turning on the power, it flashed 3 time the onboard LED, after a successfull connection to the WLAN.

Code structure - brief overview

The code is implemented in C++, using different classes.

JomjolGitServerClass

Basic class to implement HTTP-server

JomjolGitESP32CamComm

Class to communicate with ArduCAM/ESP32-CAM and LEDs

JomjolGitArduCAM-Server-Class

Inherited class of Server and ArduCAM/ESP32-CAM to combine physical camera controll and HTTP-server

ESP32-CAM_Server-GitHub.ino

Arduino file to setup and loop the programm and an OTA-interface to update the NodeMCU over-the-air