What ESP32 and brand is the best for Wled? I purchased some off of Amazon that are Wemos ESP32 Mini knockoffs and they have given me a nightmare of a time. I have never had issues with the Wemos ESP8266 D1 Mini. I can’t power them from 5V without having to use a 5v to 3.3v regulator. Then if I try to run the led strip at 5v like their supposed to they start flickering. Almost seems to me they are not getting they correct 3.3v output from the ESP32 board. Everything runs fine at 3.3v but that wasn’t my attempt.
I have used these mini ones powered from the 5v VCC pin without issue: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BK435ZW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
How are you powering the LEDs (how are they wired, do they share a common ground between the Esp and power supply)?
Yes common ground. I even checked all the grounds were common with an ohm meter. The 5v power coming in branched off to Leds and the 5v to 3.3v regulator, the 3.3v to 3.3v on the board All pretty simple wiring.
These ESP32’s have given me all sorts of issues. I had to flash it multiple times with Wled for the sound reactive code 3 or 4 times to get it to work correctly. I never had issues like this with any other processor.