Hardware
The Barette capture device
A battery-powered ESP32-CAM board that gets closer to the hair than a phone can, and hands what it sees to the app over Wi-Fi.
Designed around one job
A phone camera is built for faces at arm's length. Hair analysis needs the opposite: a fixed distance, steady light and a lens that can resolve a single strand. The Barette board does that in a package small enough to keep in a bag, charged over USB-C like everything else you own.
- Brain
- ESP32-CAM (Ai-Thinker)
- Wi-Fi and BLE radio, camera interface and firmware in one module.
- Power
- Buck-boost, 1.8–5.5 V in
- A steady rail for the camera even as the cell drains.
- Safety
- Protected Li-ion cell
- Protection IC, MOSFET switch, polyfuse and an NTC thermistor.
- Design files
- Proteus 8 project
- Schematic, PCB layout, netlist and 3D STEP models per part.
Illustrative rendering — see the repository for the actual board files.
Key components
What is on the board
The parts that define the design. Passives, footprints and datasheets live alongside them in the hardware folder.
| Function | Part | Role |
|---|---|---|
| MCU, Wi-Fi/BLE and camera | ESP32-CAM (Ai-Thinker) | Runs the firmware, drives the camera and talks to the app. |
| Power regulation | MPQ28164GD-P | Buck-boost regulator, 1.8–5.5 V in, up to 4.2 A out. |
| Battery charging | BQ24195RGET | I²C Li-ion charger with 5.1 V boost (OTG) mode. |
| Battery protection | DW01A + FS8205A | Cuts the cell off on overcharge, over-discharge or overcurrent. |
| Charging port | 2171750001 USB-C | Power-only USB-C receptacle. |
| Sensing and protection | NCP15XH103F03RC · 1812L300 | 10 kΩ NTC thermistor and a resettable 3 A polyfuse. |
Follow the build
Release notes, hardware progress and product news — sent when there is something worth sending.