Support ESP32-S3 CAM board / OV3660

[xnetworker]

Description

I bought a new ESP32-S3 Cam. It’s the ESP32-S3 CAM Development Board WiFi+Bluetooth Module N16R8 with an OV2640/OV3660 camera. Here’s the link: https://www.ebay.de/itm/276678537422?var=2560110221892
The installation worked. On startup I get the following error message:

[0d00h00m01s] 2025-10-27T20:26:12 <INF> [CAMCTRL] Init camera [0d00h00m01s] 2025-10-27T20:26:12 <ERR> [CAMCTRL] Camera init failed: 0x106 [0d00h00m01s] 2025-10-27T20:26:12 <ERR> [CAMCTRL] Detected camera model or JPEG format is not supported [0d00h00m01s] 2025-10-27T20:26:12 <ERR> [MAINCTRL] Process state: Initialization Failed

How can I get the camera to work? Is there anything else I should keep in mind with this board? Thanks in advance.

Logs

Firmware Version

Release: v17.3.0-SLFork (Commit: 1f3d96d)

[Slider0007]

Hi @xnetworker,

I'm not sure if this board is supported by the firmware, I haven't tested up to now. See github repo readme for already tested and compatible boards / cameras. Please provide pinout of this board to be able to check for any differences.

Additonally if the camera is an OV3660, the model is also not yet offcially supported, only OV2640 and OV5640 are supported. A test firmware for OV3660 is linked the other discussion (download and OTA update): #300 (reply in thread)

[m0erky]

P.S.: It is working with the image for the 16nr8 device. Initially I did the flashing with a wrong address for the bootloader. Now it is working correct, I think.

[Slider0007]

@m0erky: Great to hear.

After a quick research I've found this schematic, but I'm not sure if this is the correct one. This board seems not very well documented. If this is correct pinout, it is 100% identical to freenove board n16r8 which matches your response.

--> Can you confirm that in terms of hardware everything is working out of the box (e.g. sd-card, onboard flashlight, onboard status LED, etc...) without changing anything in WebUI?

After confirmation I will add some notes to documentation.

@xnetworker: It seems your issue is only related to not yet offically supported OV3660 camera model and not to the board itself. OV3660 support is already in preparation: You can test it with this test-build (download freenove-esp32s3-n16r8 package and perform OTA update): https://github.com/Slider0007/AI-on-the-edge-device/actions/runs/18922293549

---

ESP32-S3-CAM schematic?

[Slider0007]

@m0erky

Can you confirm that in terms of hardware everything is working out of the box (e.g. sd-card, onboard flashlight, onboard status LED, etc...) without changing anything in WebUI?

A short feedback would be appreciated.

[m0erky]

@Slider0007 I checked everything and can confirm it works out of the box without any further modifications / changes in the WebUI....

[Slider0007]

@m0erky: Thanks for your positive feedback 👍

[drsmarsden]

I have built 2nd system for old analogue electricity meter . Used a new pucka Freenove ESP32-S3-WROOM , came with OV3660 [not 5640 as per log]. Did not work with the error below

Replace camera with 2640 and all works

I (1975) MAIN: PSRAM size: 8388608 byte (8MB / 64MBit)
I (1995) MAIN: Total heap: 8469303 byte
I (2015) gpio: GPIO[48]| InputEn: 0| OutputEn: 1| OpenDrain: 0| Pullup: 0| Pulldown: 0| Intr:0
I (2015) GPIOCTRL: Init SmartLED (Flashlight): GPIO48
I (2035) CAMCTRL: Init camera
I (2045) s3 ll_cam: DMA Channel=0
I (2045) cam_hal: cam init ok
I (2045) sccb-ng: pin_sda 4 pin_scl 5
I (2045) sccb-ng: sccb_i2c_port=1
I (2055) ov5640: Mismatch PID=0x3660
I (2055) ov5640: Mismatch PID=0x3660
I (2055) ov5640: Mismatch PID=0x3660
E (2055) camera: Detected camera not supported.
E (2055) camera: Camera probe failed with error 0x106(UNKNOWN ERROR)
E (2065) CAMCTRL: Camera init failed: 0x106
E (2085) CAMCTRL: Detected camera model or JPEG format is not supported
I (2095) SYSTEM: Device info: Board: Freenove-ESP32S3-N8R8, SOC: ESP32S3, Cores: 2, Revision: 0.2
I (2115) MAIN: SD card info: Name: APPSD, Capacity: 3840MB, Free: 949MB

I currently have a spare waveshare esp32-s3-eth and following cameras
2660
3660
5640
if there is something useful I can try , let me know

[Slider0007]

E (2085) CAMCTRL: Detected camera model or JPEG format is not supported

OV3660 is not yet supported officially, but I am already working on it. Will be most likely part of next release...

OV2640 and OV5640 are already supported.
I suggest to go ahead with OV5640, it is the preferred solution for new installations up to now.

---

Interesting in testing;
OV3660 support is already in preparation: You can test it with this test-build (download suitable package and perform OTA update): https://github.com/Slider0007/AI-on-the-edge-device/actions/runs/18922293549
Tests to perform: #300 (reply in thread)

[Slider0007]

OV3660 and ESP32-S3-CAM are supported with upcoming release v17.4.0: #302

[xnetworker]

Is there a way to change the LED to white? Now the flash light is blue/white

[Slider0007]

@xnetworker

The default color of flashlight is white (RGB 255,255,255).
White light in generated out of the three colors red, green and blue. It could be that your physical led exposes more blue than the other colors.

You can switch the manual GPIO control by enabling GPIO section and configure GPIO48 as smartled.
Here you can finetune the three colors elements and e.g. reduce blue (0-255==0-100%). https://github.com/Slider0007/AI-on-the-edge-device/blob/develop/docs%2FConfiguration%2FParameter%2FGPIO%2FGPIOPin_SmartLed_Color.md