Small Displays

(16 x 2 LCD Display)

&

The Pieces

The Theory & Code

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)
An LCD is a small low cost display. It is easy to interface with a micro-controller because of an
embedded controller (the black blob on the back of the board). This controller is standard
across many displays (HD 44780) which means many micro-controllers (including the Arduino)
have libraries that make displaying messages as easy as a single line of code.

Liquid Crystal Display

x1
16 Pin Header

x1

Assembling
To get started you'll need to attach the header pins to your LCD module, learn how to do this
at: http://sparkfun.com/lcd

Potentiometer
(10k Ohm)

x1

Testing
Testing your LCD with an Arduino is really simple. Wire up your display using the schematic or
breadboard layout sheet. Then open the Arduino IDE and open the example program.

The Schematic

File > Examples > LiquidCrystal > HelloWorld

Potentiometer

Upload to your board and watch as "hello, world!" is shown on your display. If no message is
displayed the contrast may need to be adjusted. To do this turn the potentiometer.

gnd
(ground) (-)

1
+5 volts

pin 12

pin 11

LCD

pin 5
pin 4

pin 3

(5v)
(gnd)

pin 2
16

Arduino

Vss (gnd)
Vdd (5v)
Vo (contrast)
RS
R/W
Enable
Data 0
Data 1
Data 2
Data 3
Data 4
Data 5
Data 6
Data 7

Library Summary
(here's a summary of the LCD library for a full reference visit http://ardx.org/LCD-REF )
LiquidCrystal(rs, rw, enable, d4, d5, d6, d7) - create a new LiquidCrystal object using a 4
bit data bus
LiquidCrystal(rs, rw, enable, d0, d1, d2, d3, d4, d5, d6, d7) - create a new
LiquidCrystal object using an 8 bit data bus
clear() - Clears the display and moves the cursor to upper left corner
home() - Moves the cursor to the upper left corner
setCursor(col, row) - moves the cursor to column col and row row
write(data) - writes the char data to the display
print(data) - prints a string to the display

Technical Details
.: Full LCD Datasheet: http://ardx.org/LCD-DATAS :.

The Circuit

The Layout Sheet

Potentiometer
(variable resistor)

A B C D E

V+

F Gto
H Gnd
I J

to 5v

gnd

3
4

7
8
9

to pin 12

10

to pin 11

12

11
13
14
15
16

to pin 5
to pin 4
to pin 3
to pin 2

17
18
19

B/light

20

21
(5v)
22
(gnd)
23

21
22

16

-SPARKFUN16 x 2 LCD

7
Vss (gnd)
8
Vdd (5v)
9
Vo (contrast)
10RS
11
R/W
12
Enable
13 0
Data
14 1
Data
15
Data 2
16 3
Data
17 4
Data
18 5
Data
19 6
Data
20
Data 7

23

24

24

25

25

CIRC-LCD
26

26

Showing27
Text

27

(LCD Displays)
28

28
29

29

30

30
A B C D E

.: Instructions: print out, cut out, get making :.

.: for more details visit: http://ardx.org/CIRC-LCD :.

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