ProjectsSmart doorbell
Hardware

Smart doorbell

A battery-powered ESP32-CAM doorbell that photographs visitors straight to Discord.

This is a smart doorbell built upon the ESP32-CAM module, which instantly captures a photo and sends it as a notification to a Discord server when the button is pressed. The device is optimized for maximum power efficiency using deep sleep mode while also providing immediate, hardware-level feedback through light and sound.

// The Story

Backstory

A battery-powered smart doorbell built around an ESP32-CAM. Press the button and the hardware instantly fires the LEDs and buzzer — no waiting for the chip to wake — while the ESP32 boots, connects to Wi-Fi, snaps a photo of whoever's at the door, and pushes it to a Discord channel via webhook before dropping back into deep sleep. The interesting part was the electronics around it: a transistor acting as an electronic relay so the tiny touch signal can safely switch the high-current LEDs, a resistor divider that scales the 4.2V battery down to safe ADC levels so the firmware can estimate remaining charge, and a hinged battery compartment so swapping the 18650 cell doesn't mean tearing the whole thing apart. Deep sleep keeps it going for a long time between presses.

Highlights

Instant hardware feedback — LEDs & buzzer fire without waking the CPU

Deep-sleep power optimization

Photos pushed to Discord over Wi-Fi

Battery level monitoring via voltage divider

Tool-free 18650 swap (hinged compartment)

// Gallery

Screenshots