I'd be pretty convinced it was the wiring - the backlight is basically just a light so whether it works doesn't tell you much about the device itself. So you specifically tried this example and wiring?
@Loop: The scrolling was actually caused by a bug in Espruino's SPI - hopefully it's fixed in 1v61...
Espruino is a JavaScript interpreter for low-power Microcontrollers. This site is both a support community for Espruino and a place to share what you are working on.
I'd be pretty convinced it was the wiring - the backlight is basically just a light so whether it works doesn't tell you much about the device itself. So you specifically tried this example and wiring?
@Loop: The scrolling was actually caused by a bug in Espruino's SPI - hopefully it's fixed in 1v61...