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Espruino is a JavaScript interpreter for low-power Microcontrollers. This site is both a support community for Espruino and a place to share what you are working on.
@AlexOwen
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I tried using the opendrain mode with a resistor pulling up to 5V but it stopped any visible output. I also tried a logic level converter but that made it less reliable.
It seems the ESP8266 is pretty tolerant to 5V after all.
Completely inexplicably the esp.neopixelWrite() started working for me! I wish I knew why but I can only assume something improved when I was swapping cables around. I think I'm going to use this and leave the hardware SPI to those of you that know more what you're doing, at least for now.
Thanks for all the help :)
Summary for anyone that comes in to this thread later:
Software SPI works, but might take a few attempts to figure out.
Hardware SPI is well on the way and works on and off, but isn't quite there yet.