mnux
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Welcome to Mnux's website. This is my personal blog about electronics.
I2C µBackpack for 8x2 character LCDs
I really like using the very common 16x2 character LCDs with I2C backpacks for their simplicity. However, sometimes there just isn't the space or even the need to use a wide display like the 16x2.
Conveniently, these HD44780-based displays are made in a lot of different sizes. My favorite is the 8x2, sadly (at the expense of tiny I2C OLEDs), this one is often overlooked by the maker community. This means there wasn't a proper, dedicated backpack you could easily get for them.
8X2 char. LCD
very common 16x2 char. LCD
20x4 char. LCD
What is an I2C backpack?
An I2C backpack basically adapts the extensive parallel bus character displays use to the popular 2-wire I2C bus. This saves on a lot of wiring and precious IO pins on your microcontroller. And as a bonus, you can even share these 2 wires between 127 more accessories!!!
Of course, nothing comes without a catch; using an I2C backpack will make the refresh rate of your display a little slower.
When it comes to the small 8x2 display, you can no longer use the extremely common I2C backpack with all its pins. in one row. I copied the entire schematic of it and just arranged the display header for the 8x2 LCD.
front side of the uBackpack
installed on an 8x2 LCD
back side of the uBackpack
bare boards
Compatibility
While I designed this backpack for use with 8x2 displays, it will also work with any display which has this kind of 2 row connector. (shown is a really nice vacuum fluorescent display which happens to have a compatible pinout) Note: the mounting holes probably wont align on different displays than is the common 8x2.
Revision B
In this revision I fixed the IC footprint (on the first rev. I choose too narrow package for the IC meaning i had to bend its legs under the body) and added the "standard" Qwiic/stemma/uSup connector for simple use.
TLDR:
-Added QW/ST connector
-Fixed IC footprint
Getting one
If you also have a need for this uBackpack you can manufacture it yourself:
Project source files (KiCad)
Interactive BOM (handy for assesembling)
Schematic
Published 27.12. 2024 Updated 8.1. 2025 Translated [decided not to]
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