GOING BACK TO ESP32-CAM

It's the submission week for the dissertation and hence with the time after submission, I went back to tinkering with the ESP32-CAM that got for the intended scanner prototype. However, after getting the ESP32-CAM to load on my laptop, I wanted it to connect to my TFT display and this was where the issue started. I was not able to find the wiring diagram for the ESP32-CAM and the TFT display. I tried getting ChatGPT to help me with the wiring guide, it kept giving me the wrong connection ports. The search continued for days.

Along the way, I also realised that I was missing some components that would help connect the device up. I had to then purchase the components and wait for them to arrive before I get to start doing. As I wanted to the scanner to be a standalone, I had to get the 5v battery that is enough to power the ESP32 -CAM, but getting the 5V battery was rather difficult, hence I decided to get the 2 x 3.7V battery.

After a series of hiccups, I tried to power up the ESP32-CAM with the batteries I had, it was at that moment I messed up. Despite knowing the voltage output was way higher than the reccomended voltage, I still went ahead and resulted the ESP32-CAM to overheat. This was a huge setback for me as I had to wait for the new ESP32-CAM to arrive before I could start progressing in the prototyping. On top of that, I have to get another component which was the step-down regulator to reduce the voltage output of the battery to the recommended voltage for the ESP32-CAM. The regulator was not cheap and this made it clear to me that I had to better plan how the circuitry connects and pre-purchase all the necessary components I need.