max wattage LED for esp32 Simple spec question I couldn't figure out, what is, practically speaking and ballpark, the maximum wattage of LED you can drive with an ESP32 (I guess about the same as an arduino?).
Conditions:

using a boost converter for higher voltage: Yes
using ESP32 pin as output and power: Yes
use mosfets/external power circuit: no
no other load is connected to the ESP32 board

My silly calculation:

GPIO allows for 12mA output (source)
cheap and small voltage boost elements go to about 9-12V

i.e. (12 milliamperes) * 12 volts = max 0.144 watts.
Is that about right (orders of magnitude)?
No. You're way off.
If the output can provide 12mA at 3.3V that equates to (P=VI) 39.6mW.  Boosting the voltages does not increase the power. Assuming a 100% efficient boost circuit (which does not exist) you would just be boosting to 12V at 39.6mW - which means (I=P/V) 3.3mA.
You can't magic more power out of thin air - if you could we'd all have &quot;free energy&quot; devices powering everything. Instead we have power supplies or batteries.
And that is what you will need. A source for that extra power to come from.