Smart Wi-Fi Video Doorbell using ESP32 and Camera

Nowadays, Security system is one of the most researched fields and with increasing security threats, companies are launching new smart security products to combat these threats. IoT is an added advantage in this field which can automatically trigger an event, like calling the police, fire brigade or your neighbor, in case of any emergency. We previously built many security systems like Raspberry Pi Visitor monitoring system, video surveillance camera, wireless doorbell, IoT based Door Security Alarm etc. Today we will use ESP32 and camera to build a Smart Wi-Fi door bell.

In another tutorial, we have learned about ESP32-CAM and how to use it for video streaming, now we will make a Smart Wi-Fi Video Doorbell using ESP32-CAM. This Smart doorbell can easily be powered by an AC socket and whenever someone at the door presses the doorbell button, it will play a specific song on your phone and sends a text message with a link of video streaming page where you can see the person at the door from anywhere in world.

 

Components Required

• ESP32-CAM
• FTDI Programming Board
• 220V AC to 5V DC Converter
• Buzzer
• Push Button
• LED (2)

 

Circuit Diagram

Circuit diagram for this Smart Wi-Fi Doorbell is very simple, just connect two LEDs, a push button and a buzzer to ESP32 GPIO pins. A buzzer is used to make a sound whenever the button is pressed. One LED is used to indicate the power status, and the other LED is used to indicate the network status. Network LED will be in a high state if ESP is connected to a network otherwise, it will blink.

 

This is how the Wi-Fi video doorbell setup will look in 3D printed casing:

 

IFTTT Setup for Wi-Fi Doorbell

IFTTT is a free web-based service that allows users to create chains of simple conditional statements, called “recipes”, which are triggered based on changes to other web services such as Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. IFTTT is an abbreviation of “If This Then That”.

In this project, IFTTT is used to send an Email whenever the temperature or humidity goes beyond a predefined limit. We previously used IFTTT in many IoT based projects to send emails or SMS on particular events like on excessive electricity consumption, on high pulse rate, on intruder entry, etc.

First login to IFTTT with your credentials or Sign Up if you don’t have an account on it.

Now search for ‘Webhooks’ and click on the Webhooks in Services section.

Now, in the Webhooks window, click on ‘Documentation’ in the upper right corner to get the private key.

Copy this key. It will be used in the program.

 

After getting the private key, now we will create an applet using Webhooks and Email services. To create an applet click on your profile and then click on ‘Create.’

 

 Now in the next window, click on the ‘This’ icon.

 

 

Now search for Webhooks in the search section and click on ‘Webhooks.’

 

Now choose ‘Receive a Web Request’ trigger and in the next window, enter the event name as button_pressed and then click on create a trigger.

Now to complete the applet, click on ‘That’ to create a reaction for the button_pressed event.

 

Here we will play a specific song on the phone when the IoT doorbell button is pressed. For that search for ‘Android device’ in the search section.

 

Now in Android Device, choose ‘Play a specific song’ trigger.

 

Now enter the song title that you want to play when the doorbell button is pressed. In my case, I’m playing a song named ‘123’ from my Google play music. You can also use Spotify or other music apps.

After that, click on ‘Create action’ and then ‘Finish’ to complete the process.

 

Now create another applet to send a message with the webpage link to the phone when the doorbell button is pressed.

So to create this applet choose ‘Webhooks’ in ‘this’ section and in ‘that’ section choose ‘Android SMS.’

 

Now it will ask to enter the phone number and message body. For this Wi-Fi doorbell project, we are sending a message with the Webserver link so that you can see the live video streaming directly.

 

Code Explanation

Complete code along with the video for this Wi-Fi doorbell camera is given at the end of this document. It can also be downloaded from here. Below we are explaining some important parts of the code.

First, include all the required library files for this code.

#include "esp_camera.h"
#include <WiFi.h>

 

Then enter the Wi-Fi credentials.

const char* ssid = "Wi-Fi Name";
const char* password = "Wi-Fi Password";

 

After that, enter the IFTTT hostname and private key that you copied from the IFTTT website.

const char *host = "maker.ifttt.com";
const char *privateKey = "Your Private Key";

 

Define all the pins that you are using in this project. I’m using the GPIO 2, 14 and 15 pins to connect the push button, LED and buzzer.

const int buttonPin = 2;
const int led1 = 14;
const int buzzer = 15;

 

Inside the void setup loop, define the button pin as input and LED and buzzer pins as output.

void setup() {
  pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT);
  pinMode(led1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(buzzer, OUTPUT);

 

It will try to connect to Wi-Fi using the given credentials, and when connected to a network LED state will change from low to high.

WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
  int led = LOW; 
  while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
    delay(500);
    Serial.print(".");
    digitalWrite(led1, led);
    led = !led;
  }
  Serial.println("");
  Serial.println("WiFi connected");
  digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);

 

While disconnected from a network ESP32 will restart until it connects to a network.

while (WiFi.status() == WL_DISCONNECTED) {
    ESP.restart();
    digitalWrite(led1, LOW);
    Serial.print("Connection Lost");

 

ESP32 will read the button state, and if the button is in the LOW state (pulled high), i.e., a button has been pressed, it sends the event and turns on the buzzer for 3 seconds.

int reading = digitalRead(buttonPin);
if (buttonState == LOW) {
        send_event("button_pressed");
        Serial.print("button pressed");
        digitalWrite(buzzer, HIGH);
        delay(3000);
          digitalWrite(buzzer, LOW);

 

3D Printed Casing for Smart Wi-Fi Doorbell

Here I designed a 3D printed casing for this wireless doorbell camera. For that, I measured the dimensions of the ESP32 board, Pushbutton, Buzzer and LED using my vernier caliper and the design looked something like this below once it was done.

After that, I exported it as an STL file, sliced it based on printer settings, and finally printed it. The STL file is available for download from Thingiverse and you can print your own casing using it.

After printing the case, I assembled the circuit into my casing and everything was a nice fit, as you can see here.

If you want to know more about a 3D printer and how it works you can read this article on Beginners Guide to Getting Started with 3D Printing and can also check our other projects where we used 3D printed casings like Biped Robot, Robotic Arm, etc.

 

Testing the Smart Wi-Fi Doorbell

After assembling the circuit, power the Doorbell using an AC socket. Now whenever the IoT doorbell button is pressed the smartphone starts playing a song named ‘123,’ and a message will be received with a link of a webpage as shown below, where the live video feed can be seen.

Complete code and working video for this Smart Wi-Fi doorbell can be found at the end of the document or you can download the code from here. If you have any queries regarding this project, leave them in the comment section.