New to ESP32s and NightDriver. Need help with SSID connection and signal for LED strip.

[ausnet77]

I'm trying to get NightDriver Demo to work on the ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1 N16R8 boards I just bought from Dorhea on Amazon - https://a.co/d/4zHDwXD

So far I've:

• Installed VSCode, PlatformIO, js.node, and Git.
• Got Blink_LED to work on the boards.
• cloned the NightDriver source locally
• Added the esp32-s3-devkitc-1-n16r8v.json file to my boards folder
• Copied secrets.example.h to secrets.h and added my WiFi info.
• Set build type to debug
• edited globals.h to turn on WiFi, OTA, WebServer etc.
• added these sections to a custom_esp32-s3-n16r8.ini file and referenced it in platformio.ini

[dev_esp32-s3-n16r8]
extends         = base
board           = esp32-s3-devkitc-1-n16r8v
board_build.mcu = esp32s3
board_build.f_cpu = 240000000L
monitor_speed   = 115200
upload_speed    = 1500000
board_build.partitions = config/partitions_custom_16M.csv # from https://github.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/blob/f6e12eb7e900fd6484e186b4b681f5b9504d2e85/tools/partitions/default_16MB.csv

[psram_flags-esp32-s3-n16r8]
build_flags     = -DUSE_PSRAM=1
                  -DBOARD_HAS_PSRAM=1

[env:demo-esp-s3]
extends         = dev_esp32-s3
build_flags     = -DDEMO=1
                  ${dev_esp32-s3.build_flags}

[env:demo-esp-s3-n16r8]
extends         = dev_esp32-s3-n16r8
build_flags     = -DDEMO=1
                  ${dev_esp32-s3-n16r8.build_flags}
                  ${psram_flags-esp32-s3-n16r8.build_flags}

To get site/src/main.jsx to compile I had to replace:
import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client';
with
import { render } from 'react-dom' ;

I have a 12V 360W supply feeding a buck converter (5V) connected to the 5V pin and GND of my ESP32-S3 board.
I have Pin 5 of my board going to a level shifter. Level shifter is powered by 3.3V from ESP32 and 0E is connected to common ground. Reference voltage comes from the 5V supply that powers the board.
I have a BTF Lighting WS2812B IP66 100LED/m 5m strip driven by the 12V power supply through a fuse block.
When I connect power to the WS2812B with no data line I get blue lights on the first part of the strip. I assume this is normal?

If I build demo-esp-s3-n16r8 and install it to the board, my LED strip does not appear to get the signal as it does not change the LED colors, and my board is not connecting to WiFi. I've tried 3 different SSIDs with WPA2 personal and WPA3 personal with no success.

Replacing Idle Tasks with TaskManager...
(I) (PrintOutputHeader)(C1) NightDriverStrip
(I)
(I) (PrintOutputHeader)(C1) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(I) (PrintOutputHeader)(C1) M5STICKC: 0, USE_M5DISPLAY: 0, USE_OLED: 0, USE_TFTSPI: 0, USE_LCD: 0, USE_AUDIO: 0, ENABLE_REMOTE: 0
(I) (PrintOutputHeader)(C1) ESP32 PSRAM Init: OK
(I) (PrintOutputHeader)(C1) Version 40: Wifi SSID: "{SSID_NAME}" - ESP32 Free Memory: 300792, PSRAM:8386263, PSRAM Free: 8386127
(I) (PrintOutputHeader)(C1) ESP32 Clock Freq : 240 MHz
(I) (setup)(C1) Startup!
(I) (setup)(C1) Starting DebugLoopTaskEntry
>> Launching Debug Thread.  Mem: 300792, LargestBlk: 270324, PSRAM Free: 8386127/8386263, (W) (ReadWiFiConfig)(C1) Error (ESP_ERR_NVS_NOT_FOUND) opening NVS handle!    
(W)
(W) (setup)(C1) Could not read WiFI Credentials
(W) (WriteWiFiConfig)(C1) Stored SSID and Password to NVS: {SSID_NAME}, *******
(W) (setup)(C1) Starting ImprovSerial for ESP32-S3
[ 50580][E][vfs_api.cpp:182] remove(): /improv.log does not exists or is directory
>> Launching JSON Writer Thread.  Mem: 292036, LargestBlk: 270324, PSRAM Free: 8385935/8386231, (W) (DeviceConfig)(C1) DeviceConfig could not be loaded from JSON, using defaults
(W) (NotifyJSONWriterThread)(C1) >> Notifying JSON Writer Thread
(W) (InitializeHardware)(C1) Allocating LEDStripGFX for channel 0
(I) (AddLEDsToFastLED)(C1) Adding LEDs to FastLED...
(I) (AddLEDsToFastLED)(C1) Adding 300 LEDs to pin 5 from channel 0 on FastLED.
(I) (SetupBufferManagers)(C1) Could allocate 7923 buffers but limiting it to 180
(I)
(W) (SetupBufferManagers)(C1) Reserving 180 LED buffers for a total of 167760 bytes...
(W) (InitEffectsManager)(C1) InitEffectsManager...
(I) (InitEffectsManager)(C1) Creating EffectManager using default effects
>> Launching Drawing Thread.  Mem: 283480, LargestBlk: 270324, PSRAM Free: 8207767/8380295, (W) (DrawLoopTaskEntry)(C1) >> DrawLoopTaskEntry
(W)
(W) (DrawLoopTaskEntry)(C1) Entering main draw loop!
(I) (setup)(C1) Making initial attempt to connect to WiFi.
(I) (ConnectToWiFi)(C1) WiFi credentials passed for SSID "{SSID_NAME}"
(I) (ConnectToWiFi)(C1) Setting host name to ESP32-N18r8-1...
(W) (ConnectToWiFi)(C1) Connecting to Wifi SSID: "Moochers" - ESP32 Free Memory: 239860, PSRAM:8380071, PSRAM Free: 8193675
(W)
(W) (ConnectToWiFi)(C1) Not yet connected to WiFi, waiting...
>> Launching Network Thread.  Mem: 239288, LargestBlk: 229364, PSRAM Free: 8193675/8380071, >> Launching ColorData Thread.  Mem: 225348, LargestBlk: 217076, PSRAM Free: 8193675/8380071, >> Launching Socket Thread.  Mem: 222412, LargestBlk: 212980, PSRAM Free: 8193675/8380071, (W) (NotifyJSONWriterThread)(C1) >> Notifying JSON Writer Thread
(I) (operator())(C1) Sending Improv packet to declare we're up. Ignore any IMPROV lines that follow this one.
IMPROV 
(W) (ConnectToWiFi)(C1) Not yet connected to WiFi, waiting...
(W) (ConnectToWiFi)(C1) Not yet connected to WiFi, waiting...
(W) (ConnectToWiFi)(C1) Not yet connected to WiFi, waiting...
[ 57254][E][vfs_api.cpp:182] remove(): /effects.cfg does not exists or is directory
(I) (SaveToJSONFile)(C0) Number of bytes written to JSON file /effects.cfg: 142
(I) (ConnectToWiFi)(C1) Setting host name to ESP32-N18r8-1...
(W) (ConnectToWiFi)(C1) Connecting to Wifi SSID: "{SSID_NAME}" - ESP32 Free Memory: 217860, PSRAM:8380071, PSRAM Free: 8193675
(W)
(W) (ConnectToWiFi)(C1) Not yet connected to WiFi, waiting...
(I) (loop)(C1) WiFi: WL_NO_SSID_AVAIL, MAC: 3C:84:27:C7:17:C0, IP: 0.0.0.0 Mem: 217732, LargestBlk: 208884, PSRAM Free: 8193675/8380071, LED FPS: 30 LED Bright: 100%, LED Watts: 23, Buffer: 0/180, CPU: 001%, 001%, FreeDraw: 0.014
(W) (ConnectToWiFi)(C1) Not yet connected to WiFi, waiting...
(W) (ConnectToWiFi)(C1) Not yet connected to WiFi, waiting...
(W) (ConnectToWiFi)(C1) Not yet connected to WiFi, waiting...
(W) (ConnectToWiFi)(C1) Not yet connected to WiFi, waiting...
(I) (ConnectToWiFi)(C1) Setting host name to ESP32-N18r8-1...

I've been making progress over the last couple of days, but can't seem to figure out what's up with the SSID or the signal not making it over Pin 5.

Any troubleshooting suggestions or anyone else already solved these problems?

[ausnet77]

Solved the problem. Hardware issue - when one side is in a breadboard - even with nothing connected - wireless doesn't connect. The other side was fine. Both Dev Kits had the same problem. Works when not attached to breadboard. 16 hours of my life I'll never get back smdh