In this wireless age, having to connect a big, clunky cable to your microcontroller to get network access seems almost primitive. But there is nothing primitive about Ethernet; it offers a wealth of performance and security advantages over Wi-Fi.

And that’s not to mention Power-over-Ethernet, or PoE, which lets you use an Ethernet cable for both communications and power. Perfect for permanently installed IoT applications, cameras, and VoIP phones.

Today, we’ll see how easy it is to use Ethernet with the ESP32. We’ll learn a bit about how Ethernet works, including how to choose the right cable (and which type to avoid). Then we’ll grab an inexpensive Ethernet module based on the W5500 Ethernet chip and connect it to an ESP32.

After doing a few basic experiments, we’ll put together a simple web server that communicates via Ethernet for improved speed and reliability. You’ll see just how easy it is to use Ethernet in your projects.

Then we will look at a Waveshare board that supports PoE, and we’ll put together a web camera powered by PoE (you can also use it with another power source if you prefer).

Here is the Table of Contents for today's video:

00:00 - Introduction
01:41 - Ethernet
08:04 - W5500 Ethernet Module
11:22 - DHCP Test
16:28 - Ethernet Web Server
21:10 - Power-over-Ethernet
25:33 - WaveShare ESP32-S3-POE-ETH
29:00 - PoE Web Camera
35:42 - Conclusion

If you haven’t considered Ethernet for your next ESP32 design, I hope this video shows you why you might want to reconsider. Ethernet offers many advantages over Wi-Fi, and with modules like the W5500 and the Waveshare ESP32-S3-POE-ETH, working with Ethernet is very easy.

I hope you enjoy the video.

Bill