Adafruit 772 LCD Shield Kit 16x2 Character Display - Uses only

LCD Shield Kit 16x2 Character Display - Uses only 2 pins! This new Adafruit shield makes it easy to use a 16x2 Character LCD. Unfortunately, most LCDs require quite a few digital pins, 6 to control the LCD and another pin to control the backlight for a total of 7 pins. That's almost half of the pins available on a classic Arduino! What to do? To make it easier for people to get these LCD into their projects, Adafruit devised a shield that lets you control a 16x2 Character LCD, up to 3 backlight pins AND 5 keypad pins using only the two I2C pins on the Arduino! The best part is you don't really lose those two pins either, since you can stick I2C-based sensors, RTCs, etc and have them share the I2C bus.

This is a super slick way to add a display without all the wiring hassle. This shield is perfect for when you want to build a stand-alone project with its own user interface. The 4 directional buttons plus select button allows basic control without having to attach a bulky computer. The shield is designed for 'classic' Arduinos such as the Uno, Duemilanove, Diecimilla, etc. It uses the I2C pins at Analog 4 and Analog 5. It will also work perfectly with Arduino Mega R3's which have the extra SDA/SCL I2C pins broken out.

(Earlier Mega's have the I2C pins in a different location and will require you to solder two wires from the I2C pins on the shield and plug them into the different I2C locations at Digital 20 & 21. ) (more. ). Made in China.