ESP-MINI-1 Single or Dual core and related FastLED interrupt issue?

[Bodhi1]

Hello all,

I speced ESP32-MINI-1's for a custom PCB's due to size limitations and the need for dual core (which is stated in the associated data sheet). As I worked through a few troubleshooting issues, I realized that the MINI's were behaving (and recognized in Platformio) as single core - whereas the Espressif dev board: ESP32-DevKitM-1 that I used for development was behaving as a dual core.

I am running FastLED (controlling WS2821B's), which does not play well with interrupts. I am also running IRremote, controlling a few mosfets on timers (with currentMillis), Bluetooth (temporarily for testing) and plan on hosting a simple single HTML page for wifi based control - all of these cause interrupt issues with FastLED and erratic operating behavior on a single core as currently scripted. I had been planning on running FastLED on one core and everything else on the other core.

So, my first question is: How can I confirm with absolute certainty that my MINI's are single or dual core? - in case Platformio is just reading the library and assigning it as a single core when it is actually a dual, or is it actually reading the core/s?

My second question is - if single core: will FREERTOS actually help or is there another solution?

Thanks

[lbernstone]

Just like any electronics, buy them from a reliable source, and you will get a reliable product. Mouser sells the MINI, and they list it as dual core. If they ship you single core (which they won't), they have a service department, and they will make it right. If you buy from Aliexpress, well, you get what you pay for. As mentioned in your earlier thread, the original series of MINI chips were single core. That old stock is still out there in warehouses across Asia.

[Bodhi1]

Just like any electronics, buy them from a reliable source, and you will get a reliable product. Mouser sells the MINI, and they list it as dual core. If they ship you single core (which they won't), they have a service department, and they will make it right. If you buy from Aliexpress, well, you get what you pay for. As mentioned in your earlier thread, the original series of MINI chips were single core. That old stock is still out there in warehouses across Asia.

Thanks for your reply lbernstone. I do understand this well, in this case the MINI's were purchased from digikey and shipped to China for assembly. It's possible the MINI's were swapped along the way though. Do you know if Platformio reads the cores to determine single vs dual during upload:

Code: Select all

Chip is ESP32-U4WDH (revision 3)
Features: WiFi, BT, Single Core, Embedded Flash, VRef calibration in efuse, Coding Scheme None
Crystal is 40MHz

or is that based on library configurations?

[lbernstone]

The uploader doesn't care. It is your running firmware that complains about it being single core, and that is looking at the hardware.
Maybe you can ask DigiKey if they have a lot number from what they sold you that you can match to what you received.

[Bodhi1]

The uploader doesn't care. It is your running firmware that complains about it being single core, and that is looking at the hardware.
Maybe you can ask DigiKey if they have a lot number from what they sold you that you can match to what you received.

Thank you for the explanation. I will contact Digikey and see what I can learn.