No camera images, frontend timeout with Arducam B0331 Camarray HAT on Raspberry Pi 4B

Raspberry Pi Cameras
1

Hi everyone. I just received the Arducam 1MP*4 Quadrascopic Camera Bundle Kit (SKU B0331) with the Camarray Camera HAT and four OV9782 global shutter color camera modules. I’m using it on a Raspberry Pi 4B, but I can’t get any image at all. The preview stays blank and the driver keeps printing “Camera frontend has timed out!”. My setup is the Pi 4B, the Camarray HAT, and the four OV9782 modules. Any ideas?

2

Thanks for the report. That “Camera frontend has timed out!” error usually means the driver isn’t receiving frames from the camera frontend. Before we go deeper, can you confirm whether all four camera modules were connected to the HAT board when you tried previewing? The driver can behave like this if it’s expecting all channels but some aren’t detected.

3

I originally tested with the kit as it came. To be clear on the environment: Raspberry Pi 4B, Camarray Camera HAT, four OV9782 global shutter color modules. I also have an older B0331 kit that I bought before, and that one works fine on the same Pi, which is why I suspected the new unit is faulty. I’ve filled in the support contact form with the same setup details too.

4

Good, that comparison with the older B0331 is helpful. If the old kit works on the same Pi, the Pi side is probably fine. Can you do one more check on the new HAT: try previewing with all four cameras connected, then also try a single camera at a time, and if possible try a different ribbon cable between the HAT and the Pi. That will help isolate whether it’s the HAT, one of the modules, or the cabling.

5

I did a few more tests:

  • All four cameras connected to the new HAT → still “Camera frontend has timed out!”
  • Single camera connected at a time → same timeout on every try
  • Different cables between the HAT and the Pi → no change
  • I then connected the same cameras to the HAT from my older B0331 kit → that works fine

So the OV9782 modules and the Pi look okay. The new Camarray HAT seems to be the problem.

6

Thanks for running those tests, that really narrows it down. Since the same cameras work with the previously purchased HAT but not the new HAT, the evidence points to a hardware fault in the new Camarray HAT board rather than the OV9782 modules or the Raspberry Pi. The “Camera frontend has timed out!” error persisting across all-camera, single-camera, and different-cable tests on the new HAT also supports that. At this point I don’t have a software workaround for this. The current conclusion is that the new HAT board is faulty and should be checked by the vendor. If you run any more tests, feel free to post the results here.