Is ESP32-CAM Board with OV2640 Camera Compatible with Home Assistant (ESPHome)?
Compatibility Overview
Popular low-cost ESP32 camera development board with OV2640 2MP CMOS camera sensor for video streaming in Home Assistant.
Technical Specification Matrix
| Feature / Attribute | Specification / Status |
|---|---|
| Hardware Protocol | DVP Parallel / 3.3V |
| Bridge Required | NO |
| Border Router Needed | None |
| Hardware Capabilities & Peripherals | Camera Motion Stream Flashlight LED Frame Rate Note: these entities come from the ESPHome configuration you flash — each one needs its matching component in that YAML before it appears. |
| Pairing Complexity | Intermediate |
| Factory Reset Instruction | Connect GPIO0 to GND and press Reset button to enter serial flash mode. |
Wire, Flash, Adopt, Check
Wire it up
Follow the bus reference above. The host pins in the configuration are defaults — any free GPIO of the right kind will do, as long as the YAML names the pin you actually used.
Flash the configuration
Create a new device in the ESPHome dashboard (the Home Assistant add-on) and paste the configuration below into it, or save it as emb_esp32cam_ov2640_ha.yaml and run esphome run emb_esp32cam_ov2640_ha.yaml. The first flash goes over USB. If it is not detected, connect GPIO0 to GND and press Reset button to enter serial flash mode to put it in download mode. Every update after that is over the air.
Adopt it in Home Assistant
Settings → Devices & Services. A node on the same network shows up as a discovered ESPHome device within a minute of joining Wi-Fi; choose Configure and enter the API encryption key from your secrets.yaml. If discovery does not find it, add the ESPHome integration by hand with the node's IP address.
Check it works
The entities on this page appear under the device in Home Assistant and update at the configured interval. The ESPHome log (Logs in the dashboard, or esphome logs) reports the setup of each component and any bus scan results at boot.
ESPHome Configuration
Starting configuration for ESP32-CAM Board with OV2640 Camera on ESP32-CAM. Untested on hardware — verify wiring and pins against your own board.
# ESPHome configuration for ESP32-CAM Board with OV2640 Camera
# Host: ESP32-CAM. Pin numbers below are host-side defaults — any free
# GPIO will do, and you should change them to match your own wiring.
esphome:
name: emb_esp32cam_ov2640_ha
friendly_name: "ESP32-CAM Board with OV2640 Camera"
esp32:
board: esp32cam
framework:
type: esp-idf
psram:
logger:
api:
encryption:
key: !secret api_encryption_key
ota:
- platform: esphome
password: !secret ota_password
wifi:
ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
password: !secret wifi_password
# AI-Thinker ESP32-CAM pin map. These are fixed by the board.
esp32_camera:
name: "Camera"
external_clock:
pin: GPIO0
frequency: 20MHz
i2c_pins:
sda: GPIO26
scl: GPIO27
data_pins: [GPIO5, GPIO18, GPIO19, GPIO21, GPIO36, GPIO39, GPIO34, GPIO35]
vsync_pin: GPIO25
href_pin: GPIO23
pixel_clock_pin: GPIO22
power_down_pin: GPIO32
resolution: 800x600
jpeg_quality: 12
max_framerate: 10 fps
idle_framerate: 0.2 fps
esp32_camera_web_server:
- port: 8080
mode: stream
# The white flash LED on GPIO4 and the red status LED on GPIO33.
output:
- platform: ledc
pin: GPIO4
id: flash_pwm
light:
- platform: monochromatic
output: flash_pwm
name: "Flash"
- platform: status_led
name: "Status LED"
pin:
number: GPIO33
inverted: true
Before you flash:
the !secret values come from your
secrets.yaml, and the GPIO numbers are host-side
defaults rather than properties of this part — change them to match how you actually wired it.
Report a Pinout Error or Submit Tested Code Snippets
Found a pin mapping quirk or built a custom ESPHome YAML driver for ESP32-CAM Board with OV2640 Camera? Submit a pull request or report corrections to our index.