Programmatically Initiate A Hardware Reset Circuit

[mtnbkr88]

I have a solar powered ESP32-CAM sitting on a fence in deep sleep. It wakes when a PIR motion detector sends a signal to a GPIO pin. It is powered by one 18650 battery boosted to 5V. I've been using it for years. The problem is too often the camera gets into an error state when initializing and throws an error 0x20004. Restarted through deep sleep will not fix the camera. The only way is for me to physically go out to the fence and recycle power to the ESP32-CAM. Is there a circuit I can use that I trigger it through a GPIO that can cut power to the ESP32 maybe through a time delay relay or transistor for a couple seconds then restores power? Basically I need to programmatically do a full power off/on hardware reset unattended. The current circuit uses micro amps until things wake up. I need any solution to also use almost no amps until called upon. I appreciate any ideas. Thank you.

[mikemoy]

Maybe something like this?
Trigger it with one of your GPIO.


https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Trigger- ... C76&sr=8-6

[mtnbkr88]

Yay! This looks like it will do what I need. I ordered two of these to try. Thank you!

[MicroController]

There are those small "delay timer chips" (a.k.a. "C005") which might be a useful and cheap option.

[mtnbkr88]

I tried the HiLetGo-Trigger suggested by mikemoy. When not being triggered the HiLetGo-Trigger uses 3mA. When triggered it uses 62mA. When triggered from a GPIO it does activate the relay and cut power to the ESP32-CAM board but the trigger line stays stuck around 2V which continuously retriggers the relay. After a while it might drift high enough to stop retriggering but it often doesn't, thereby burning up the battery. I tried using an external pullup on the GPIO trigger but it makes no difference. The only way to get the trigger pin to release is to disconnect the GPIO from it. Which defeats the purpose. So, close, but no.

I've ordered some Normal Closed reed relays (DF1B05BWD) to see if I can build a circuit with them. I'll have to wait a couple weeks to give them a try.

I just saw the post about the C005 chip suggested by MircoController. I might have to use something like that with the NC reed relay to
keep the reed relay open for a few seconds to get a good hard reset. Thanks for that idea.