ESP32 unable to connect to wifi when disconnected from Home Assistant Rpi

Ok, trying to get an ESP32 to connect via wifi to my home assistant raspberry pi.
When the ESP32 is plugged in via USB to the RPI, it seems to connect fine to wifi, See below from log:


However, if I unplug the ESP32 from the RPI and just plug it in to a power supply (blue light comes on) it does not connect to WIFI anymore, see below:

I’ve given the HA RPI a static IP and tried using the config file for the ESP32 to set a static IP for that but it does not seem to connect still.
I’m using Home Assistant 0.117.5 on a RPI v3. The RPI is connected to my network and router via ethernet.

Anything obvious I should try?

No takers? Anything obvious I am missing?