Balena Cam w/ 3rd part camera

Project help
1

Has anyone successfully managed to get Balena Cam or the Edge Impulse examples working with 3rd party PI cameras? I purchased 2 3rd party Raspberry Pi cameras (not the official V2 model) assuming they would work with the examples, but so far no luck. Presumably there’s a config change depending on the different manufacturer but I can’t quick figure it out.

My error:
01.10.20 13:07:24 (-0400) balena-cam Video device is not ready
01.10.20 13:07:24 (-0400) balena-cam Trying to load bcm2835-v4l2 driver…


Here’s what I’ve got:


Would love to know if its possible to use these before returning and buying the official Pi cams.

4

Hey there
I have not personally tried these camera modules but in theory, it should work. It seems like the camera is not being detected.

  • How are you deploying the app? Are you using the dploy button or using the cli to push the app?
  • Can you confirm that BALENA_HOST_CONFIG_start_x=1 is set in your application configuration?
  • Have you been able to use the camera with other OS, e.g Raspberry Pi OS for instance to confirm that they are not faulty? Make sure the cameras are properly connected.

Thanks

6

Hi @rahul-thakoor thanks for the reply!

How are you deploying the app?

CLI with balena push

Can you confirm that BALENA_HOST_CONFIG_start_x=1 is set in your application configuration?

Not originally thank you for the reminder. That did clear up the initial error and lets the app boot. I can now see the server from the public link, but I do get blank screen from the camera stream.

Have you been able to use the camera with other OS, e.g Raspberry Pi OS for instance to confirm that they are not faulty?

Yup

I think perhaps the problem is with trying to get working on the Pi Zero? I know the repo says it hasn’t been tested/verified. But the zero should have enough power to stream the camera because it can do so with Raspberry Pi OS which is presumably a much heavier application. Maybe not, I’m not sure.

I can’t tell if this is relevant now to not being able to see the camera stream.
02.10.20 06:17:18 (-0400) balena-cam ValueError: 'fffbf134-[redacted]3ae12b45.local' does not appear to be an IPv4 or IPv6 address

8

Hello, the issue here is the browser. If you follow the instructions on the last two bullet points here https://github.com/balenalabs/balena-cam#additional-information depending on what browser you are using, it’s probably going to work! Come back to us if it does!

1 Like
10

Thanks a bunch! That was exactly the issue.