Thoughts on San Devices

Katekate

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I understand that I have to install WLED on them first, and then set up WLED to accept E1.31 from FPP or xlights. Do you know how well ESPs run with their built-in WiFi antenna? I'm wondering if I should get an ESP32 U which requires an external antenna to be attached.
I don't think we are talking about the same thing. Hanson boards run FPP, not WLED.
 

Notenoughlights

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Someone told me that Hanson Electronic boards for the beaglebone are buggy. Is this true?
I wouldn't say they're buggy at all. Had no problems with mine (except for a dead output) during my 2021 display. What you're hearing and what others are saying are that you can't upload from Xlights and have everything work, i.e doing it automatically won't work 100%, but setting it up manually, it will work as intended.
 

chris3453

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I understand that I have to install WLED on them first, and then set up WLED to accept E1.31 from FPP or xlights. Do you know how well ESPs run with their built-in WiFi antenna? I'm wondering if I should get an ESP32 U which requires an external antenna to be attached.
Last year my Falcon failed halfway through my show. I ended up flashing 8 x ESP 8266s that evening and had the show running again the next day. Wifi was ok but not great at some of the furthest points in the garden. I think enclosures have a big part to play as well as where you located the APs.
 

Skymaster

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I think enclosures have a big part to play as well as where you located the APs.
Given ESP's are 2.4GHz, then good channel settings, MIMO configuration, power output selection and channel bandwidth is key to getting WiFi reliable. (Actually it goes for 5Ghz too, but more so at 2.4).
Blasting out at 100% having overlapping channels and running 3x3 MIMO might seem good, but in fact it'd be pretty average for what you're trying to achieve, which is a reliable, consistent, relatively low-bandwidth network.
 

chris3453

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Given ESP's are 2.4GHz, then good channel settings, MIMO configuration, power output selection and channel bandwidth is key to getting WiFi reliable. (Actually it goes for 5Ghz too, but more so at 2.4).
Blasting out at 100% having overlapping channels and running 3x3 MIMO might seem good, but in fact it'd be pretty average for what you're trying to achieve, which is a reliable, consistent, relatively low-bandwidth network.
Yup I understand all of that. I use Ruckus APs with beamforming and all the smart channel features. It could also be done to the fact that I had the cheapest ESP8266 from Aliexpress and I doubt the quality control was up to much. 6 of the 8 were rock solid the other two were a bit iffy and sometimes needs resets on the board to get going again.
 
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