Need help with ESP32 BLE interface
Peter Walsh wrote 10/09/2025 at 20:54 • 2 pointsI need someone to solve a problem interfacing an ESP32 to a remote camera shutter. I've got code that doesn't work, and haven't been able to figure out why it doesn't work. I don't believe there is example code for this anywhere on the net.
Should be only a couple of hours work, but I'll pay your hourly wage if you can solve the problem for me.
The remote shutter is the one in the link below, it's a BLE device, I can scan and connect to the device, read the services and characteristics, but can't seem to get button press data from the device. I can send you devices to test, and these devices do work on (for example) cell phones.
https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/251862ce-8c21-4c78-9bd1-9acec28e2df5_1.2a5e62637bfa221a58e0d519f3c5ca76.jpeg
IM me on Hackaday.io if interested.
Discussions
Become a Hackaday.io Member
Create an account to leave a comment. Already have an account? Log In.
[Edit] Actually, my comment might be correct, but it's almost certainly useless. I can't imagine that the ESP32 is doing the complex work to block this that Windows does. What are the services and characteristics for the device?
I can make a quick guess based on connecting similar devices to Windows Bluetooth: the device is a "keyboard" device. Windows for sure always grabs keyboards for itself and doesn't let apps override it.
IIRC, one of the buttons is an Enter key, and the other is volume down
Are you sure? yes | no
Thanks for the reply.
Someone at the local makerspace got back to me real quick after posting so I'm working with them, but I'll keep you in mind if things don't work out.
The shutter uses a KB interface and sends a Vol-up and Vol-down keypress, depending on which button is pressed. The ESP32 is not grabbing the KB as an input device (as linux does), it's just not responding. Current theory is that the system uses a different CCCD than is advertised in the services table.
Are you sure? yes | no