HCDC RPi GPIO Status LED & Terminal Block Breakout Board HAT for Raspberry Pi...

I used this breakout board in my Raspberry Pi–based oven controller, and it made wiring and debugging way easier. The screw terminals keep connections secure and clean, and the LED indicators on each GPIO pin are incredibly helpful for monitoring pin state at a glance—no more guessing if your code or wiring is working. It plugs directly onto the Pi's GPIO header and includes clear pin labels, so setup was fast and error-free. Perfect for permanent installs or prototyping where reliability and visibility matter. Highly recommend for any Raspberry Pi GPIO project—especially if you’re driving relays, sensors, or building something like a custom control panel. This board makes it way easier to troubleshoot and maintain.

Since Amazon likes to combine reviews for totally different products, this review is for the HCDC RPi GPIO Status LED & Terminal Block Breakout Board HAT. I'm not sure why people complained about putting this board in a case. It is pretty obvious that many HATs will not fit inside a closed case. This board will work with a male to female 40-pin flat extender cable if you remove the two plastic posts on either side of the connector. You really don't need those posts except to permanently attach it to the base board or another HAT. The connector works pretty well as a "foot" and you can leave the other posts for feet on the other side. I am using a Compute Module 4 with a WaveShare IO baseboard. This has plenty of clearance above the Waveshare heat sink and Compute Module 4. Although I can't close the case, I could file a slot in the cover and use a ribbon cable. My only minor complaint is that the signal designations on the terminal blocks are ordered differently than for the connector pins. I haven't figured out if there is a system to it, but they seem quite random. In some cases the label is the GPIO pin and in some cases it is the usual function, like "TX' or "RX". Probably it wasn't possible (or easy) to make a layout on the terminal blocks to match the connector pin ordering. With a little bit of care in finding the right connection, this provides all the signals. What impressed me was the construction. If this is built by hand, it was done very well. There were no cold solder joints, splashes or burnt lands from using too much heat. It actually looks like it was put through a wave soldering or surface mount soldering machine. The plastic posts could have been metal, but they're good enough being plastic. For the price, this board is a good value. I'm porting an OS to the Compute Module 4, and this board has saved me from hanging LEDs off of my board. It is also nice to see the serial port TX and RX data to at least know of the signals are reversed (one LED on instead of 2).

Bought for building Raspberry Pi projects for the led indicator to check coding.

It functions fine and does exactly what it suppose to do which earns it 5-stars. BUT, I found two aspects to it to be confusing: 1) The terminal connections don't have any correlation to the 40-pin connector & LED layout on the right side. You can have pin 1 located on the 3rd row of terminal connections and pin two can be on the 1st row, pin 3 next to it and pin 4 on the 4th row. Very confusing. 2) The led indicator lights for the GPIO connections turn on when the circuit is Open and turn off when the circuit is Closed. Like turning a switch off to make the like turn on and vice versa. Otherwise, it works fine once you understand its quirks.

This provides a light for every output, plus access to the output with a screw terminal rather than having to make a header for connection. It is a step closer to installation in the final product without the need for weaker connection means, plug in socket with a wire is not a reliable way to implement a project. With this, you can test outputs by sight, and simulate inputs with simple means. Well worth the money. After the first arrived, I ordered three more.

Very useful during the development cycle of a project using the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B.

I recommend this breakout board for the following reasons: * Sturdy construction * Much easier than accessing the GPIO pins directly * It is very informative (and cool) to see activity with the LEDs * Still leaves the GPIO Pins accessible via a pass through * Seems inexpensive for the value

I used the board in this case to make accessible the GPIO ports of the Raspberry PI 4B-8. This board interfaces perfectly in any situation where the GPIO pins array is accessible. This little board is a no-brainer. Don't think, just buy it. :-)

Way better than using the pins