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The LCD Plug is a small board containing an MCP23008 I/O expander which connects to most common 16-pin character LCD displays that use the HD44780 standard. The backlight can be turned off for greatly reduced power consumption. Two solder jumpers let you select between +3V and PWR as source for the LCD logic and backlight, respectively.

An I2C bus running at 3.3V is used for interconnection, with all the power and signal lines brought out to both sides of the board, allowing daisy-chaining with other I2C-conformant boards.

The With 2×16 LCD (white/blue) version is pre-assembled and includes a crisp 2×16 character LCD module with white backlight. An extension cable is included for mounting flexibility.

The With 4×20 LCD (white/blue) version is pre-assembled and includes a larger 4×16 character LCD module with white backlight. An extension cable is included for mounting flexibility.

The With 2×16 LCD (grey/green) version is pre-assembled and includes a 2×16 character LCD module with dark grey characters on a green background. This has lower contrast but the advantage of adequate readability without the backlight - useful for those low power-drain projects. An extension cable is included for mounting flexibility.

The With 4×20 LCD (grey/green) version is pre-assembled and includes a larger 4×16 character LCD module with dark grey characters on a green background. This has lower contrast but the advantage of adequate readability without the backlight - useful for those low power-drain projects. An extension cable is included for mounting flexibility.

For all LCD types, long 16-pin headers are included to plug the board and display module together (use direct solder with only the male header if you need to save height). Remember no headers are included to connect the plug to one of the ports. 

The Part-assembled version comes with all SMD-sized components already soldered onto the board. Note that no headers or extension cable are included, and no LCD.

The PCB only variant contains just the board for the LCD Plug. No parts, no headers, no extension cable, no LCD.

As connectors you can use a Plug Headers set with 10 male and 10 female 6-pin headers, which makes it easy to connect multiple plugs and JeeNodes in a “standard” way. Or you can solder the board directly in place for more permanent use.

The documentation and full design details are freely available.