16.x problems with early QuinLED ESP32s

Issues
1

Howdy,

Putting this here to let folks know that if you have older QuinLED-ESP32 boards, it may not be entirely compatible with WLED 16.x

I had a working install that went totally “dead” after upgrading from 15.4 to 16.0.1. No wifi, no LEDs, nothing. I pulled the board and manually flashed back to 15.4, plugged it back in and everything worked again.

The odd thing is that if I didn’t plug the ESP32 board back into the QuinLED-Dig-Uno carrier board (just directly to USB and nothing else connected to the pins), the ESP32 booted and worked (I could see it on WiFi and interact with the WLED UI). As soon as I plugged it into the carrier board, nothing.

I had a newer QuinLED ESP32 board and tried that with 16.0.1 and it worked fine - both by itself and plugged into the original carrier board.

The failing ESP32 QuinLED board is v1.3 (circa 2019)
The working ESP32 QuinLED board is v2.1

The v1.3 board works fine under 15.x and earlier. But I suspect something in the update pin setup logic for 16.x is not playing well with this older chip.

So FYI - if you have an install that has been around for a while, be careful about applying an OTA update to 16.x unless you have physical access (mine required a ladder and a lot of faith that gravity did not want to end me today).

Gerry

2

What’s likely happening is that a change in v16 that’s causing a large power draw spike during WiFi scanning is causing the DC-DC circuit on the Dig-Uno to brownout, hence why it keeps working if USB is connected.

There has been a discussion topic about it here, sadly I don’t currently have a fix for it hardware wise but there were some software attempts but I’m not 100% sure if the current status of those.

Apologies for the issue and having to get on a ladder to get to your controller!

3

Oh dear lord - I cannot believe I missed that. It’s a spot on description of what I see and I’m sure it’s 100% the reason. I should prolly delete this post as excess “noise” since it’s already so well and deeply covered there. I should have checked closer.

Can you share if the DC-DC hardware is on the ESP32 “board” or on the carrier/terminal board it plugs into? If what I’m reading is correct, it sounds like it must be on/part of the ESP32 board (matches that the terminal/carrier board doesn’t seem to matter in my limited testing).

Thanks for pointing that discussion topic out - that is really great!!

Gerry

P.S. Even with this minor issue, I have loved and used the DigiUNO setup and have dozens of them setup all over. They are my goto and I do love them!!