Been trying to get this thing working decently, without success 
It’s a little bit difficult for me to understand how the communication is done between the I2C and the LCD driver. I will try to carefully remove the driver, locate and solder some ribbon cables to each segment and play with a couple of 74HC595 or a MAX7219.
It’s not the ideal (or the idea that I had) but since I have no knowledge on latching, I will play with a known chips and their libraries.
I’m not sure if I can do this during the coming days (I have to do some repairs at home) but I will try to provide some reaction as soon as I can.
Thank you!
Mariano.