Key Features:
- Reduce the number of pins needed to connect to an LCD with this backpack
- Works with any 'standard' character LCD, from 8x1 to 20x4 sizes with 16-pin single-line connection headers at the top
- Recommend using with Adafruit's blue & white 20x4 or 16x2 LCDs
- Advanced users can use for general purpose I/O expansion
LCD backpacks reduce the number of pins needed to connect to an LCD. LCDs are a fun and easy way to have your microcontroller project talk back to you. Character LCDs are common, and easy to get, available in tons of colors and sizes. We wanted a 'backpack' (add-on circuit) that would reduce the number of pins without a lot of expense. By using simple i2c and SPI input/output expanders the number of pins was reduced (only 2 pins are needed for i2c) while still making it easy to interface with the LCD. We suggest using with Adafruit's blue & white 20x4 or 16x2 LCDs. You can try to connect our RGB 16x2 or 20x4 LCDs up but this backpack will not control the RGB backlight so you'll have to use the backpack only for the 14 digital IO pins (pins #1-14) and connect the backlight pins (#15-#18) directly to your microcontroller with 4 extra wires for color/PWM control as if they were just an RGB LED. For advanced users, the MCP23008 has 8 i/o pins (7 are connected) with optional pull-ups, the SPI 74HC595 has 7 connected outputs.
Item Specifics
1 - 2-pin terminal (blue or black)
1 - 3-pin terminal (blue or black)
This board/chip uses I2C 7-bit address between 0x20-0x27, selectable with jumpers
Works with 16x2 and 20x4 Character LCDs
Does not work with 16x2 OLED displays