16x2 LCD with Leonardo via "LCM1602" - no characters

ubermick:
But the guesser says that the backpack has to be NOT connected to the LCD screen in order for it to work?

  1. hookup the i2c backpack and only the i2c backpack to the Arduino (make sure to use the needed pullup resistors - i2c needs them to work correctly)

Don is correct.
What I meant to say is that you should hook up your backpack with LCD attached
but don't hook up any other i2c devices on the i2c bus.
I see your concern. Sorry about the confusion. I'll update the wording to be clearer.