tinkerkit lcd module schematic quotation

Now move the content of the downloaded “Tinkerkit Drivers” folder inside the Arduino drivers subfolder. At this point it’s important to know that the TinkerKit! (and also the Arduino) boards works in this way: they have two “states”. One is called “bootloader state” that lasts for about seven seconds after you plug the board into the usb port, then it goes into “sketch mode”. Every time you power the board (or reset it) it goes into bootloader mode, then sketchbook mode after seven seconds. We have to install a driver for each mode.

Press the reset button on the TKLCD board, without closing the Device Manager. Once restarted, for the first 7 seconds, while it’s in bootloader mode, you should see an unknown “Arduino Leonardo” in the device list, right click on it and select “Uninstall“. A pop-up confirmation window appears, press OK. (sometimes Windows shows the “unknown device” at the top of the list and not under the “ports” sub-menu)

Now that we have uninstalled the Leonardo drivers for the LCD, we have to install them again. Press reset again on the TKLCD board, and when the unknown “Arduino Leonardo” pops up from the ports menu, right-click then “Update driver software“

Press the reset button, Windows should see a “TinkerKit LCD bootloader”, then after 8 seconds it turns again into an unknown Arduino Leonardo. Repeat the right click, update driver procedure that we did in steps 12 to 14.

Now the LCD is installed on your Windows PC. After installing it, you can select the Arduino Leonardo board from the IDE every time that you want to use the TinkerKit! LCD.

With the TKLCD module you can write text on the module’s screen in a few minutes. It has an LCD display on board and it requires a dedicated software library that is available here. The LCD can be used like a regular module by plugging it into the TinkerKit! shield or as an independent component; it has in fact a microcontroller and a USB port on board that make it a fully-fledged LCD-shaped Arduino Leonardo.

Using a four-connectors wire or 4-pin jumper wire, the LCD module can be hooked-up to the SERIAL port on the TinkerKit! Shield. To work properly it has to be loaded with the right firmware; it is nothing more than a particular Arduino sketch and it’s located inside the examples of the TKLCD library. You can open it from File->Examples->TKLCD->SerialFirmware Mind that this firmware must be uploaded on the LCD module, and not on an Arduino. Connect the module using the USB cable, (the Arduino software recognizes it as an Arduino Leonardo) then load the firmware. You don’t have to upload the firmware every time, just remember to reload it if you upload something else on the module, and then you want to use it again from the serial. Once the firmware is uploaded and the module is connected to the Serial port, open the Arduino software and include the following libraries:TKLCD, LiquidCrystal and Wire. The TKLCD library has two different classes, one for each use; in our case, we are using it via serial port so we have to declare it as TKLCD_Serial in the globals (before the setup):

One of the cool features of the LCD module is that it doesn’t need an Arduino or TinkerKit! shield to run. It can be connected straight to the USB port of your computer exactly like an Arduino Leonardo, then, once the code is finished, just select “Arduino Leonardo” from the board’s list and upload. To control the LCD we have to include the following libraries: TKLCD, LiquidCrystal and Wire, then declare the LCD as TKLCD_Local in the globals (before the setup):

From now on we have a series of methods that we can apply to the lcd object it inside the loop function. Just browse into the examples folder of the TKLCD library or read the library’s reference to see all of them.

The TinkerKit! LCD module mounts nine connectors on the board. Six of these, the ones with the three-pins layout, can be used with other TinkerKit! modules. Don’t be confused by the labels, the A0, A1 and A2 are analog inputs and D5, D6 and D11 are outputs but they can also be used as digital inputs. Use them like regular inputs and outputs, just remember to include the TinkerKit! library in addition to the TKLCD and to declare them using the right port:

In the following sketch we use the LCD module to display the temperature. We use it as a stand-alone module with a thermistor connected directly to one of its input ports.

You actually have to go to the 2 wire i2c tutorial to see the pinout of serial though Derp its not in the serial tutorial go figure. like so many problems with tinkerkit it was a great Idea and supported by arduino and radioshack they were not good at support or tutorials etc. so they failed.

The TinkerKit LCD module make it really easy to write text on the screen in a few minutes. What make it really unique is that you can use it in two different ways:plugged to a TinkerKit shield like any other TinkerKit module

The TinkerKit LCD module is equiped with its own microcontroller and run with its own library. Uploading the TKLCD code is just a matter of uploading a new sketch to the LCD using:the four-connectors wire connected to the SERIAL port on the TK Shield

To upload LCD firmware, go to Examples->TKLCD->Serial_firmware. Please note that the TinkerKit LCD will be recognize as an Arduino Leonardo board when you connect it to USB. You will need to load that code again if you want to have a fresh install of the LCD. Once uploaded, you are ready to go and write your own program.

Please notice that the way you connect your LCD module is really important for declaring it in your code:use TKLCD_Serial lcd = TKLCD_Serial() if you connect it to the Serial of your TinkerKit Shield

In this tutorial, I’ll explain how to set up an LCD on an Arduino and show you all the different ways you can program it. I’ll show you how to print text, scroll text, make custom characters, blink text, and position text. They’re great for any project that outputs data, and they can make your project a lot more interesting and interactive.

The display I’m using is a 16×2 LCD display that I bought for about $5. You may be wondering why it’s called a 16×2 LCD. The part 16×2 means that the LCD has 2 lines, and can display 16 characters per line. Therefore, a 16×2 LCD screen can display up to 32 characters at once. It is possible to display more than 32 characters with scrolling though.

The code in this article is written for LCD’s that use the standard Hitachi HD44780 driver. If your LCD has 16 pins, then it probably has the Hitachi HD44780 driver. These displays can be wired in either 4 bit mode or 8 bit mode. Wiring the LCD in 4 bit mode is usually preferred since it uses four less wires than 8 bit mode. In practice, there isn’t a noticeable difference in performance between the two modes. In this tutorial, I’ll connect the LCD in 4 bit mode.

Here’s a diagram of the pins on the LCD I’m using. The connections from each pin to the Arduino will be the same, but your pins might be arranged differently on the LCD. Be sure to check the datasheet or look for labels on your particular LCD:

Also, you might need to solder a 16 pin header to your LCD before connecting it to a breadboard. Follow the diagram below to wire the LCD to your Arduino:

TheLiquidCrystal() function sets the pins the Arduino uses to connect to the LCD. You can use any of the Arduino’s digital pins to control the LCD. Just put the Arduino pin numbers inside the parentheses in this order:

This function sets the dimensions of the LCD. It needs to be placed before any other LiquidCrystal function in the void setup() section of the program. The number of rows and columns are specified as lcd.begin(columns, rows). For a 16×2 LCD, you would use lcd.begin(16, 2), and for a 20×4 LCD you would use lcd.begin(20, 4).

This function clears any text or data already displayed on the LCD. If you use lcd.clear() with lcd.print() and the delay() function in the void loop() section, you can make a simple blinking text program:

Similar, but more useful than lcd.home() is lcd.setCursor(). This function places the cursor (and any printed text) at any position on the screen. It can be used in the void setup() or void loop() section of your program.

The cursor position is defined with lcd.setCursor(column, row). The column and row coordinates start from zero (0-15 and 0-1 respectively). For example, using lcd.setCursor(2, 1) in the void setup() section of the “hello, world!” program above prints “hello, world!” to the lower line and shifts it to the right two spaces:

You can use this function to write different types of data to the LCD, for example the reading from a temperature sensor, or the coordinates from a GPS module. You can also use it to print custom characters that you create yourself (more on this below). Use lcd.write() in the void setup() or void loop() section of your program.

The function lcd.noCursor() turns the cursor off. lcd.cursor() and lcd.noCursor() can be used together in the void loop() section to make a blinking cursor similar to what you see in many text input fields:

Cursors can be placed anywhere on the screen with the lcd.setCursor() function. This code places a blinking cursor directly below the exclamation point in “hello, world!”:

This function creates a block style cursor that blinks on and off at approximately 500 milliseconds per cycle. Use it in the void loop() section. The function lcd.noBlink() disables the blinking block cursor.

This function turns on any text or cursors that have been printed to the LCD screen. The function lcd.noDisplay() turns off any text or cursors printed to the LCD, without clearing it from the LCD’s memory.

This function takes anything printed to the LCD and moves it to the left. It should be used in the void loop() section with a delay command following it. The function will move the text 40 spaces to the left before it loops back to the first character. This code moves the “hello, world!” text to the left, at a rate of one second per character:

Like the lcd.scrollDisplay() functions, the text can be up to 40 characters in length before repeating. At first glance, this function seems less useful than the lcd.scrollDisplay() functions, but it can be very useful for creating animations with custom characters.

lcd.noAutoscroll() turns the lcd.autoscroll() function off. Use this function before or after lcd.autoscroll() in the void loop() section to create sequences of scrolling text or animations.

This function sets the direction that text is printed to the screen. The default mode is from left to right using the command lcd.leftToRight(), but you may find some cases where it’s useful to output text in the reverse direction:

This code prints the “hello, world!” text as “!dlrow ,olleh”. Unless you specify the placement of the cursor with lcd.setCursor(), the text will print from the (0, 1) position and only the first character of the string will be visible.

This command allows you to create your own custom characters. Each character of a 16×2 LCD has a 5 pixel width and an 8 pixel height. Up to 8 different custom characters can be defined in a single program. To design your own characters, you’ll need to make a binary matrix of your custom character from an LCD character generator or map it yourself. This code creates a degree symbol (°):