Hi everyone! I’m still pretty new to designing PCBs for the ESP32, and I’m trying to wrap my head around why the boot behavior can be so different between a breadboard and a custom board.
I’ve been reading up on how the timing of the EN and BOOT pins matters, but I’d love to understand the ‘why’ behind it. For example, how much does the power supply’s startup speed or the strength of the pull-up resistors actually affect things in a real-world design??? Are there any golden rules or extra margins you guys use to make sure the board starts up reliably every single time???
I’m really here to learn from the discussion and understand the logic behind a good design, rather than just fixing one specific board**.** I want to make sure I’m builfing a solid foundation before I move on to more complex projects… If anyone has some beginner friendly tips or common mistakes they’ve seen or made , I’d be so grateful to hear them. Thanks a lot
That’s pretty common, breadboards often hide timing quirks that show up on a real PCB. Make sure your 3.3 V supply is stable, EN/BOOT pull-ups aren’t too weak, traces are short, and decoupling caps are close to the chip. A little extra margin on the pull-ups and careful power sequencing usually makes the board boot reliably every time.
Hey, thanks for this help. I’ve tried different pull-up resistors and also added some wires (someone suggested me) for making the output smooth. Its working a bit better but not exactly as expected.
No problem at all. That makes sense, pull-ups and wiring can help, but if it’s still not behaving as expected there’s likely some noise or timing issue left. Share what you’re seeing now and the setup.
