Dr. Hax on Nostr: I was able to track down an official source about what the amber light is about. It ...

I was able to track down an official source about what the amber light is about. It does think it's charging a battery. There is no battery attached.

So maybe that's just a red herring and not causing my issues after all?

I'm going to slap a battery on that node so I can do some basic testing. Once I'm familiar with battery operated mode, I can re-test powering it directly from a USB cable.

https://docs.heltec.org/en/node/esp32/esp32_general_docs/frequently_asked_questions.html#orange-led-blink-problem