8266 won't load with power to 3.3v to 5V level shifter

Development Boards Arduino
1

I am trying to connect to some 5V shift registers with SPI.

I have a level shifter board from Logic Gate Electronics that also contains a 5v to 3.3 V reg.

If I have the 5 V from the Thing dev board connected to the level shifter the program won’t load or run.

When I try to load I get

warning: espcomm_sync failed

error: espcomm_open failed

If I lift the 5V the board loads fine but I have to wait for the program to start before I land the 5V again.

If I power the board off/on with the 5V connected to the level shifter the program doesn’t start either.

Any idea what I am doing wrong?

Tnx,

T3

2

Can you give a direct link to that product? Putting “logic gate electronics level shifter” into google gives nothing but generic references about those terms. Not that manufacterer or seller.

Also, what do you mean with lift/land 5 volt? Is that a signal or the 5 volt supply to the level shifter.

How do you determine that a program is not running? In other words that the ESP8266 is stuck/hanging/in a repetative boot? Do you have a means of detecting the SPI signals?

And what is the SPI clock rate that you are trying to send data with? Does lower clock speeds work?

As always a schematic of how you have wired this up is required to rule out mistakes.

3

Been on the road so unable to try more testing.

The level shifter appears to be 4 fets and 8 resistors and a 5V to 3.3V regulator

I have to lift the 5 V from the Thing to the level shifter to get the program to load or start.

I have the on-board led set to come on at init time and then flash when running so I know the program doesn’t start.

Clock speed isn’t an issue yet as the program won’t load or start with the 5v from the Thing connected to the level shifter.

More when I get back and can poke some more.

Appreciate the feedback.

T3