Wifi Webcam with nightvision without Octoprint  

RE: Wifi Webcam with nightvision without Octoprint

It seems the TP-Link Tapo C100 WLAN IP Kamera does everything i need. With Homeassitstant no cloud streaming is needed as you can directly access the camera stream.

RE: Wifi Webcam with nightvision without Octoprint

You didn’t say it you wanted Google or Apple support .. the AQara cameras aren’t cheap but I have one and their night vision works really well.. I also bought their humid sensors (also not cheap) to put in my DryBoxes.. Now with HomeKit I can monitor the print and humidity of DryBoxes. 

RE: Wifi Webcam with nightvision without Octoprint

Oh Yes, Apple support would be nice to have, but is not needed, as i can show homeassistant devices in Apple HomeKit. But thank you very much, i will have a look at the aquara webcam. 🙂

RE:

If you already have an unused raspberry pi sitting around, you can use one of those raspicams without ir-filter and two IR LED modules. Put Motioneye/MotioneyeOS on the Pi and you can integrate it into Home Assistant. There are even Pan-Tilt-Hat modules for the raspberry pi. If you have to buy a new Pi, it would probably too expensive at the moment. But a used Pi Zero W would be enough for this. I have used one cam like this on a Pi Zero W for a nesting box.

RE: Wifi Webcam with nightvision without Octoprint

I have an unused Pi 3 and and anused P2 sitting around. The Pi2 will not work as it has no Wifi Modul out of the base. I will also have a look at this solution. Tank you Walter.

RE:

You can use esp32-cam:
- cheap as dirt, you can get esp32-cam which as integrated camera (but you will probably require additional module to attach it via usb to program it) or esp32-wroom  ( or wrover which as PSRAM mainly for live stream and realtime image processing) + camera
- small (can be in the case of the size of the match box)
- can be powered from USB port
- wifi
- no external web/cloud services required, all in your own network
- esphome software integrates with HomeAssistant natively (for the cost of live streaming performance) and really easy to modify if you take time to get to know how esphome works (it's way easier after you do it)
- with NOIR cameras, but it will still require some IR leds to light up the printing area - and you will still get monochrome image - from my experience NOIR is not really worth it - better stick to normal cameras + take a picture once in a while + turn on led to light up the scene (let say once after finishing layer).

Still interested? See how to do it here https://hackaday.io/project/182811-prusa-mini-esp

RE: Wifi Webcam with nightvision without Octoprint

Nice ESP project. For now i ended up with a TP-Link Tapo C100. I am going to read the camera stream directly into homeassistant. If this doesn't work, i definitely will have a look at the ESP 32 solution. I like it, how you mounted the ESP on the back of the Mini Display. 🙂

RE: Wifi Webcam with nightvision without Octoprint

Hackaday URL shows how someone mounted it on the back of the LCD display, so I didn't do it (it's not my project).

What I did is something else - putting ESP32 with camera in standalone white tube next to the printer (as on the video attached to the previous post).

RE:

I can say now: The TP-Link Tapo C100 works perfect. I can watch the print in Homeassistant and also in Apple HomeKit (over Homebridge by Homeassistant). The webcam shows a 1080p picture.

Nightvision is also possible. The webcam costs only 22 Euros on amazon. Cloudservice is not needed and the cam works also offline. Only a one time account registration must be done.

RE: Wifi Webcam with nightvision without Octoprint

After a few days, I have to revise my opinion about the Tapo C100 camera. The camera delivers a very good picture, but unfortunately it loses the stream after a few hours and you have to disconnect it completely from the power to get it to stream again. For this reason, I cannot recommend the Tapo C100.

RE: Wifi Webcam with nightvision without Octoprint

Just checked, my IR-RaspiCam with MotionEye has an uptime of 274 days. It just works.

RE: Wifi Webcam with nightvision without Octoprint

Posted by: @walter-layher

Just checked, my IR-RaspiCam with MotionEye has an uptime of 274 days. It just works.

I have a Pi 3 and a Pi 2 laying around. Will the Pi 2 work for this project? I can connect the pi2 via LAN…so network shouldn‘t be a problem.

Which component do you use exactly? Du you have any links for me?

Which OS are you running on the pi? 

RE: Wifi Webcam with nightvision without Octoprint

I use MotionEye in several configurations, with Pi Zero W, Zero Pi 2 W, Pi 3B+, either directly as MotionEyeOS or as MotionEye on RaspiOS. I use PiCam Modules V2, V1, ArduCam HD-IR with those.

I have a nesting box cam with a Pi Zero 2 W (upgraded from a Pi Zero W just before the Zero 2s became expensive) and MotionEyeOS. The camera module is this ArduCam IR-Module. It has a GPIO solder point to control the IR-cut filter via GPIO on the Raspi. In the nesting box I do not use the included IR LED modules because they are too bright for the nesting box. I use some IR LEDs that are bright enough for the box and practically invisible for the naked eye or the birds during day or night. I also built another nesting box with a Pi 3B+ and an ArduCam HD-IR module where the ir-cut filter can also be controlled via GPIO.
For my printer supervision cam I use a Pi 3B+ with RaspiOS and MotionEye installed on that. The camera is this Module by Longruner. The image quality is not the same as on the newer V2 RaspiCams, but for my purposes it is enough. I have it in use for about 3 years now. This one operates the ir-cut filter on its own via a light sensor (no modification by me). I also added a pan-tilt-hat by Pimoroni. The pan-tilt-hat is supported by MotionEye and you have "action buttons" in the web interface to pan and tilt the camera.

RE: Wifi Webcam with nightvision without Octoprint

Thank you for the excellent answer. I will do the math and check how much this setup will cost. 🙂 Maybe i will use my pi3. I also need to check if i can integrate this setup in my homeassistant software.

i also like the idea with the ESP32, but i did not find a complete module with camera and ir leds. 

RE:

Here is a screenshot showing the on-screen controls in ir-mode. Don't know why this is cropped here. Click on the image to see without the cropping.

RE:

Nice. What resolution do you have?

i only need night vision.

RE: Wifi Webcam with nightvision without Octoprint

The ESP32-CAM modules are not bad either, and really cheap. Just found this on the subject:

https://hackermagnet.com/night-vision-on-esp32-cam/

RE: Wifi Webcam with nightvision without Octoprint

I have it set on 800x600, but more is no problem if I need it.

RE: Wifi Webcam with nightvision without Octoprint

Posted by: @walter-layher

The ESP32-CAM modules are not bad either, and really cheap. Just found this on the subject:

https://hackermagnet.com/night-vision-on-esp32-cam/

Pretty nice project! 😃 Thank you for the link. I like the ESP32 because it is cheap and has a short boot time.

I will investigate in the pi and the esp solution in the upcoming weeks.