Need Help With ESP32 CAM - Getting Past First Base

Hi @dbrockdiver1,

   It is a few years since I followed Bill (@dronebot-workshop)'s tutorial, resulting in my memory of the occasion being a little fuzzy, plus the Arduino IDE has undergone major updates since then, so my comments may not be 100% accurate. I was hoping someone else, with more recent experience would jump in, but sadly that doesn't appear to have happened yet ... perhaps it will.

Personally, I didn't have too many problems, but others trying the sketch at about the same time did.

The first hurdle was ensuring Windows had the right driver for the "FTDI" card. FTDI is a Scottish company who originally designed a small family of chips, when USB was a 'new' invention, to facilitate making a connection between a PC USB port and a serial interface, including providing the associated Windows drivers. However, it appears the chips were 'cloned' by copycat chip manufacturers, so many of the devices now on the market are probably not made by FTDI, (regardless of any printing on the chip), and unfortunately, some are reported to not function correctly.

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It is useful to understand, although it may not be relevant in your specific case, that other companies now make 'similar' chips, which are basically aimed at performing a similar task, but require the manufacturer's specific drivers.  Because of FTDI's original marketplace position, such chips and boards are often called "FTDI", in the same way that many people call a vacuum cleaner, a "Hoover", even when it has another name like Dyson on the machine.

As an example, have a glance at 

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-install-ch340-drivers/all

which describes how to use a common alternative chip, the CH320.

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So as a first check, go into Windows Device Manager and find the USB driver entry. As an example, I plugged in my ESP32CAM + "FTDI board" and captured the picture snippet below:

(Click on picture to enlarge)

Note that the USB entry does NOT a yellow warning mark by it (I think it is a triangle and exclamation mark, sorry I forget..) If there is such a warning mark, it has the wrong Windows driver, and that is the first thing to fix. Finding the right driver can be tricky, but Google can be your friend. Maybe ask another question on the forum if you get stuck.

You may note that my "FTDI Board", is not actually FTDI chip based... but has a chip marked CH340G, which matches the Device Manager entry. Although it is not "FTDI", with the CH340 driver, it appears to function correctly.

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I hope the above diatribe gives you a clue on how to fix your problem. Of course, you may have a completely different problem.

Sadly, as my board worked, I can't give you much other direct experience. I had discussions with other forum members in the past, and clearly others had problems with some 'FTDI boards' of dubious parentage.

One solution that others have reported success with, is by adding a 'motherboard' with a USB socket ... sometimes known as ESP32-CAM-MB. I think these are widely available at a low cost.

I haven't needed this path, but I note it is discussed in this short article:

https://randomnerdtutorials.com/upload-code-esp32-cam-mb-usb/

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I hope that you can resolve your problems and achieve a successful result.

Best wishes and good luck, Dave

@davee Dave:   Thanks for the response.    I'll take a look your info and compare it to what my setup shows.  I did find another set of videos that showed the ESP32 Cam being connected and programmed using a Arduino Uno.  I built one of those and to my surprise it worked.   I have video!!!!    I have a bunch of comparing to do to see what settings cross over.   I'll post my findings in a couple days.