NozzleCAM — ESP32-S3 T-Camera Plus v1.1

📌 Overview

NozzleCAM is a compact standalone MJPEG streaming camera based on the LILYGO® T-Camera Plus S3 (v1.0–v1.1) board.
It combines the ESP32-S3, an OV2640 2 MP camera sensor, and a 1.3" 240×240 ST7789V TFT display.

The device starts its own Wi-Fi access point, broadcasts a DNS wildcard (http://nozzlecam/) and mDNS (http://nozzcam.local), and hosts a responsive web UI for live streaming, snapshots, and local recording.

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⚙️ Hardware

Board: T-Camera Plus S3 v1.0 / v1.1
MCU: ESP32-S3 (8 MB PSRAM, 16 MB Flash)
Camera: OV2640 (2MP)
Display: ST7789V 1.3" 240×240 TFT (SPI)
Power: USB-C 5 V

📸 OV2640 Camera Pinout (v1.1)

Signal	ESP32-S3 GPIO
RESET	3
PWDN	— (not connected)
XCLK	7
SIOD	1
SIOC	2
VSYNC	4
HREF	5
PCLK	10
D7..D0	6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 14, 12

🖥️ ST7789V TFT Pinout

Signal	ESP32-S3 GPIO
MOSI	35
SCLK	36
CS	34
DC	45
RST	33
BL	46

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🧩 Features

• Wi-Fi SoftAP with captive DNS redirect
• mDNS (http://nozzcam.local) and DNS wildcard (http://nozzlecam/)
• MJPEG live stream at /stream
• Single frame JPEG at /jpg
• Health endpoint at /health
• Camera reinit endpoint at /reinit
• Web-based UI (/) with:
  • Live video preview
  • Snapshot capture (JPG download)
  • Local client-side video recording (WebM)
  • Fullscreen toggle
  • Settings page link (/settings)
• TFT splash screen shows SSID and IP on boot

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🧰 Building and Flashing

Prerequisites

• PlatformIO in VSCode
• USB-C cable

platformio.ini

[platformio]
default_envs = t-camera-plus-s3

[env:t-camera-plus-s3]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32-s3-devkitc-1
framework = arduino

upload_speed = 921600
monitor_speed = 115200
board_build.partitions = huge_app.csv

build_flags =
  -D ARDUINO_USB_MODE=1
  -D ARDUINO_USB_CDC_ON_BOOT=1
  -D BOARD_HAS_PSRAM
  -mfix-esp32-psram-cache-issue
  -D CONFIG_LWIP_TCP_OVERSIZE_MSS=1

lib_deps =
  adafruit/Adafruit GFX Library
  adafruit/Adafruit ST7735 and ST7789 Library

⚠️ Some libraries (Arduino_GFX, lvgl) were tested but removed because of build issues on ESP32-S3; we use Adafruit_ST7789 now.

🚀 Usage Flash firmware using PlatformIO

On boot the TFT shows:

SSID: T-CameraPlus

IP: 192.168.4.1

Connect to the Wi-Fi T-CameraPlus

Open a browser to:

http://192.168.4.1 (direct IP)

http://nozzlecam/ (DNS captive portal)

http://nozzcam.local (mDNS)

Use the top bar buttons to:

📸 Take snapshot

⏺ Start/stop recording

⛶ Toggle fullscreen

⚙️ Open /settings page

⚡ Known Issues & Challenges 📷 Camera init instability

OV2640 sometimes boots with SCCB bus stuck low. Implemented sccb_recover() to clock SCL manually.

Switching XCLK between 20 MHz and 24 MHz on init retries helps.

⚡ PSRAM vs DRAM allocation

Large frame buffers must go to PSRAM (CAMERA_FB_IN_PSRAM) to avoid heap exhaustion.

🖥️ ST7789 library compatibility

Arduino_GFX caused build errors (esp_rgb_panel_t undefined) on ESP32-S3. → Switched to Adafruit_ST7789 with explicit SPI.begin() pin mapping.

📶 Slow Wi-Fi startup

First AP start can take 3–5 seconds; TFT splash hides this delay.

🧪 Browser privacy modes

Client-side video recording may fail silently on strict browsers (DuckDuckGo, Safari private mode).

🛠️ Development Notes HTML UI is stored in /src/www_index.h

Keeps it maintainable during development (no need to rebuild SPIFFS).

Edit and rebuild the sketch to update the web UI.

Settings page is served from /settings route

Plan: allow adjusting resolution, JPEG quality, brightness, contrast, auto exposure, gain, white balance.

📋 Roadmap Implement live adjustable camera settings via /settings

Store settings persistently in NVS

Optional STA mode with OTA updates

Add FPS and heap usage overlay on stream

📜 License GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Created by Arjen Gerritsen / Emergo IT - The Netherlands.

Based on:

ESP32 Arduino core

esp32-camera library

Adafruit_ST7789 / Adafruit_GFX

📎 References LILYGO® T-Camera Plus S3 product page
ESP32-S3 datasheet