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I know the question sounds simple, but I am facing an edge case here. I have a microcontroller with 3.3V on the GPIO's. I want to use it with this LCD panel. Adafruit creates their own breakout board, but I would like better speed/color depth so I am making my own board to support the 8080 MCU 18-bit parallel interface.

The LCD has the following stats for voltage:

VCC
    Recommended - Min: 2.5 Typ: 2.8V Max: 3.3V
    Absolute Max - 4.6V
Backlight
    Recommended - Min: - Typ: 3.2V Max: 3.4V

Now I know i can use 3.3V on the backlight, but I am a little worried about using 3.3V directly on the VCC pins. Do you think I need a level shifter? Explain your reasoning.

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No level shift is needed. Recommended max is 3.3, so it is 'recommended' to work with a standard 3.3v interface. Absolute max is 4.6 so as long as you have a decent regulator there should be no issues.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Sounds good. I just wanted to be sure, still I want to wait a while to allow some more discussion before settling on an answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nate
    Commented Jan 26, 2015 at 7:01
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Nate What more discussion is needed? Modern uCs work on either 2.8V or 3.3V, which is no doubt why the LCD has an operating voltage that includes both. The information you quoted states in black and white that 3.3V is perfectly acceptable as Vcc. Yes, it's the limit, but it's still fine. The fact that the Absolute Max is a whopping 35% higher really should persuade you that it's OK. \$\endgroup\$
    – CharlieHanson
    Commented Jan 26, 2015 at 11:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ I meant no offense. I merely meant to express that I didn't know whether or not further discussion was needed so I would allow time for it just in case it was. Since noone has really refuted this answer after a days time I am now accepting it as the correct answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nate
    Commented Jan 26, 2015 at 18:44

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