4x16 lcd display free sample
Newhaven 16x4 character Liquid Crystal Display shows characters with dark pixels on a bright yellow/green background when powered on. This transflective LCD Display is visible with ambient light or a backlight while offering a wide operating temperature range from -20 to 70 degrees Celsius. This NHD-0416BZ-FL-GBW display has an optimal view of 6:00. This display operates at 5V supply voltage and is RoHS compliant.
Easily modify any connectors on your display to meet your application’s requirements. Our engineers are able to perform soldering for pin headers, boxed headers, right angle headers, and any other connectors your display may require.
Choose from a wide selection of interface options or talk to our experts to select the best one for your project. We can incorporate HDMI, USB, SPI, VGA and more into your display to achieve your design goals.
Newhaven 16x4 character Liquid Crystal Display shows characters with dark pixels on a bright yellow/green background when powered on. This transflective LCD Display is visible with ambient light or a backlight while offering a wide operating temperature range from -20 to 70 degrees Celsius. This NHD-0416BZ-FL-YBW display has an optimal view of 6:00. This display operates at 5V supply voltage and is RoHS compliant.
Easily modify any connectors on your display to meet your application’s requirements. Our engineers are able to perform soldering for pin headers, boxed headers, right angle headers, and any other connectors your display may require.
Choose from a wide selection of interface options or talk to our experts to select the best one for your project. We can incorporate HDMI, USB, SPI, VGA and more into your display to achieve your design goals.
I recently received some free LCD samples from my friends at FocusLCDs.com. One of which is a 16x4 LCD; P/N: C164AXBSYLY6WT. It uses a ST7066U controller (see datasheet here) instead of the HD44780 commonly found in LCD shields. I am not so sure if it will work with an Arduino and its libraries, so I wanted to try it out.
An import function allows additionally to use Windows fonts. With the FontEditor it is easy to generate for example Cyrillic, Greek and Arabic fonts. The preview function shows immediately the size and style in simulation window. When the testboard EA 9780-2USB is connected to the USB port, you can see the character (or any predefined text) live on the display which is plugged-in!
As per the name the 2x16 has 2 lines with 16 chars on each lines. It supports all the ascii chars and is basically used for displaying the alpha numeric characters. Here each character is displayed in a matrix of 5x7 pixels.
Scope of this tutorial is to show how to display the alpha numeric chars on LCD, Generating and displaying the custom chars will be discussed in subsequent tutorials.
As it is a 8-bit data bus, we can send the data/cmd to LCD in bytes. It also provides the provision to send the the data/cmd in chunks of 4-bit, which is used when there are limited number of GPIO lines on the microcontroller.
The LCD has two register namely a Data register and Command register. Any data that needs to be displayed on the LCD has to be written to the data register of LCD. Command can be issued to LCD by writing it to Command register of LCD.
If the RS signal is HIGH then the LCD interprets the 8-bit info as data and copies it to data register. After that the LCD decodes the data for generating the 5x7 pattern and finally displays on the LCD.
After sending the data/cmd, Selecting the data/cmd register, Selecting the Write operation. A HIGH-to-LOW pulse has to be send on this enable pin which will latch the info into the LCD register and triggers the LCD to act accordingly.
The below configuration is as per the above schematic. You can connect the LCD to any of the PORT pins available on your boards and update this section accordingly
The Serial LCD Kit includes all the parts you need to add a serial "backpack" to a 16x2 LCD. The kit includes a pre-programmed ATmega328 microprocessor, which reads a serial stream of data and (after a little heavy-lifting) instantly displays it on the LCD. Interfacing the Serial LCD with an Arduino, or other serial-enabled devices, allows you to easily print GPS coordinates, short messages or any other information onto the LCD.
This tutorial will cover everything you need to know to get up and running with the Serial Enabled LCD Kit. We"ll first go over assembly so you can turn that bag-o-parts into something that hopefully resembles any pictures you may have seen of the kit.
Following assembly, we"ll touch on how to actually use the Serial LCD Kit. Specifically, we"ll go over how you"d use the thing with everybody"s favorite development board, Arduino. There"ll be example code galore, and you can even make your own LCD clock! It"s gonna be pretty crazy...
Finally, you"ll need something to send a serial stream of data to the display. An Arduino works great (any variety, this isn"t limited to the Uno) if you want to automate the serial data stream. FTDI breakouts or RS-232 level shifters work if you just want to connect the display to your computer and send data via a terminal program. For what it"s worth, this tutorial will focus on connecting the display to an Arduino.
The goal of the Serial LCD Kit is to make controlling an LCD simple and to make wiring to it even simpler. If you wanted, you could abstain from using the serial backpack and wire an Arduino directly up to the LCD. To that point, there are loads of great examples, and even some Arduino libraries, that make interfacing a microcontroller directly to an LCD very easy. However, because the LCD is driven by a parallel interface, those examples require a tangle of wires and anywhere from 6 to 11 pins of the Arduino to control the thing.
The microcontroller on the Serial LCD Kit takes care of all of that nasty wiring, so you only need one pin to control the LCD. The Serial LCD"s on-board microcontroller parses any incoming commands or characters, and then sends the proper data to the LCD over the multi-wire parallel interface. It"s a magic black box, and you don"t have to care how it does its job, just that it does it. So let"s get it built...
What you"ve got in front of you right now is not yet a Serial LCD Kit. First, we"ve got to turn that bag of parts into a Serial LCD Kit, which will require soldering. If you"ve never soldered before, don"t fret! This is one of the easier soldering projects, every part is through-hole, and well-spaced. If this is your first time though, I"d encourage you to take a trip over to one of our excellent soldering tutorials before picking up the iron.
First, pick out the big, ferrari-red PCB. See how one side has white silkscreen printed onto it? This is the top of the PCB. You"ll stick almost every part in on this side and solder the pins to the opposite side. The only time we"ll stray from that is when soldering the LCD, which is the last step.
Wait...something"s missing...oh, hi LCD! To connect the LCD to the PCB, we"ve included a straight 16-pin header with the kit. You"ll need to solder this header to both the PCB and the LCD. Solder it first to the LCD, stick the shorter pins into the LCD. Make sure the longer legs are extended out from the back of the LCD and solder all 16-pins on the top side of the LCD. Effort to keep the pins as perpendicular to the LCD as possible.
With the header soldered to the LCD,you"ll finally be able to connect the display to the PCB. Remember, we"re sticking this part into the bottom side of the PCB, and soldering to the top. Solder up all 16 pins, and that should be it.
Before you can display anything on the LCD, you"ll have to connect something to it. Only three wires are necessary to use the Serial LCD Kit: RX, GND and VCC. Plug the included 3-wire jumper cable into its mating JST connector that you soldered onto the PCB. This color coded cable has two wires for power, and one for receiving serial data. The red and black wires correspond to +5V and GND, respectively, and the yellow wire is RX.
You"ll need to figure out how you"re going to powerthe LCD Kit. It doesn"t have a regulator on-board, so it"s up to you to supply a clean, regulated 5V power source. If you"re using an Arduino, you could power the Kit off of the 5V and GND pins – connect red to 5V and black to GND. Otherwise, there"s a ton of options out there for power; you could use a USB adapter, a 5V wall-wart, a breadboard power supply. The list just goes on. Just make sure you"re not supplying any more than 5V (a little less may work, but you"ll lose some brightness).
After powering the Serial LCD Kit, you should notice the backlight turn on. If the contrast is properly adjusted, you might see the splash screen flash for a second or two. Most likely though, the contrast won"t be set correctly, so you won"t see a splash screen. In that case, you may see anything from 32 white boxes to absolutely nothing. You"ll have to be quick about it, because the splash screen only remains for a couple seconds before going blank, but try turning the trimpot knob until you"ve got a good view of the characters on the LCD.
The "Serial" in the Serial LCD Kit can be a little confusing. What it really means is TTL serial, not to be confused with RS-232 serial. The voltage on the RX line should only go between 0 and +5V. If you"re using a microcontroller (like an Arduino) to talk with the LCD, then you most likely don"t have to worry. Just don"t hook up a PC"s serial port straight to the LCD and expect it to survive.
Connect the Arduino to the Serial LCD as follows. If you have a wire stripper, you may want to expose a few millimeters more of wire to allow them to stick really nicely into the Arduino"s headers.
Here"s a simple example sketch, which uses the SoftwareSerial library (which is included with recent versions of Arduino) to instill our Arduino with more than just the one, hardware, serial port. Now we can use the hardware serial port to listen to the serial monitor, and the second serial port can be used to talk to the LCD.
Now, plug in your Arduino and upload the code. Open up the serial monitor, and make sure it"s set to 9600. Type “Hello, world” into the serial monitor and send it over to the Arduino. The LCD should echo your greeting. Take the LCD for a test drive, discover all the characters it can display!
You"ll quickly notice, that the code is severely lacking any sort of clear display command, but don"t think for a second that the Serial LCD Kit doesn"t have a clear display command. It"s got commands up the wazoo! The Serial LCD Kit is set up to accept commands that control the backlight, baud rate, and all sorts of display functionality, like clearing the screen. Have a look at the Kit"s “datasheet”, which lists all of the characters and commands you can send to the display. I wrote that, but I understand if it"s all gobbledygook to you right now.
The commands are divided into three groups: backlight, baud rate, and special commands. Each command requires that you send at least two bytes to the display. For instance to set the backlight, you first have to send the backlight control byte (0x80, or decimal 128) followed by a byte with any value from 0 to 255. Sending a 0 will turn the backlight completely off, 255 will turn it all the way on, 127 will set it to about 50%, and so on. The backlight setting is stored in the Serial LCD Kit"s memory and will be restored when the LCD is turned off and on.
What we really care about right now, though, is clearing the display, which requires a special command. To issue a special command to the LCD, you first have to send 0xFE (or decimal 254) which tells the display to go into special command mode, and wait for a data byte. The clear display command is 0x01 (or decimal 1), that command should be sent immediately after sending the special command byte. So to clear the display we need to send two bytes: 254 (0xFE) followed by 1 (0x01). Check out the datasheet link for all of the special commands. You can do all sorts of fun stuff: scroll the display, turn it on/off and control the cursor.
Our next piece of example code, Serial_LCD_Kit_Clock, delves into sending special commands to the LCD with an Arduino. There are individual functions that clear the display (clearDisplay()), set the backlight (setBacklight(byte brightness)), and set the cursor (setLCDCursor(byte cursor_position)), feel free to copy these and add them to any code you"d like.
This is a good start, but there"s plenty of room for growth. Try adjusting the brightness of the display based on what time it was. Make it the brightest at midnight, dimmest at noon. What else can you do with the code?
Now then, that should be enough to get you on your way to using the Serial LCD Kit with a serial interface. If you"re happy with that, and don"t want your mind blown, I suggest you stop reading here.
Oh, you"ve taken the red pill? Well then you get to learn the Serial LCD Kit"s very deep, dark secret. It may not look anything like one, but the LCD Kit is actually Arduino-compatible. It has an ATmega328, just like the Arduino, and that ATmega328 has a serial bootloader, just like an Arduino. It can be programmed via a USB-to-Serial board. This means you can hook up all sorts of sensors, blinkies and other I/O to the Kit itself, while continuing to use the LCD to display any info you"d like. The 6-pin serial programming port on the right hand side of the PCB can be connected to an FTDI Basic Breakout.
With the FTDI board connected, and Arduino open, simply select the corresponding COM port in the Tools>Serial Port menu, and select Arduino Duemilanove or Nano w/ ATmega328 under the Tools>Boards menu. Though it probably won"t look like it"s doing anything, try uploading Blink, change the LED pin to 9 to at least see the backlight of the LCD flick on and off. Remember, you can download the Serial LCD Kit firmware here. If you ever want to turn it back into a Serial LCD, upload it to the LCD like you would any sketch.
If you want to be really adventurous, and get the most out of the Serial LCD Kit, I"d recommend first taking a trip over to where the Serial LCD Kit"s source code is hosted and getting a good idea how the code works. That firmware is written as an Arduino sketch, and uses a great little Arduino library named LiquidCrystal to control the LCD. The LiquidCrystal library makes controlling the LCD with an Arduino super-simple.
You should also get a good feeling for the kit"s schematic. There are a few Arduino pins that can only be used with the LCD (4-9), but pins 10-13, and all of the analog pins can be used with any device you"d normally connect to an Arduino. The available pins are all broken out on the bottom of the PCB.
Remember, this part is all very extracurricular. Don"t feel at all required to use your Serial LCD Kit as an Arduino. I just wanted to let you know what"s possible with this kit.
Serial LCD Clock Example Sketch - Displays a digital clock on the Serial LCD. This is a good example of how to use special commands, like clear, with the display.
Now I"ll leave you and your Serial LCD Kit in peace. I hope you"ve learned a good amount about the display. I also hope you"re left with questions and ideas about what you"re going to do with it next. If you"ve still got questions about the display, or comments about the tutorial, please drop them in the comments box below or email us.
This article includes everything you need to know about using acharacter I2C LCD with Arduino. I have included a wiring diagram and many example codes to help you get started.
In the second half, I will go into more detail on how to display custom characters and how you can use the other functions of the LiquidCrystal_I2C library.
Once you know how to display text and numbers on the LCD, I suggest you take a look at the articles below. In these tutorials, you will learn how to measure and display sensor data on the LCD.
Each rectangle is made up of a grid of 5×8 pixels. Later in this tutorial, I will show you how you can control the individual pixels to display custom characters on the LCD.
They all use the same HD44780 Hitachi LCD controller, so you can easily swap them. You will only need to change the size specifications in your Arduino code.
The 16×2 and 20×4 datasheets include the dimensions of the LCD and you can find more information about the Hitachi LCD driver in the HD44780 datasheet.
After you have wired up the LCD, you will need to adjust the contrast of the display. On the I2C module, you will find a potentiometer that you can turn with a small screwdriver.
Note that counting starts at 0 and the first argument specifies the column. So lcd.setCursor(2,1) sets the cursor on the third column and the second row.
Next the string ‘Hello World!’ is printed with lcd.print("Hello World!"). Note that you need to place quotation marks (” “) around the text since we are printing a text string.
The example sketch above shows you the basics of displaying text on the LCD. Now we will take a look at the other functions of the LiquidCrystal_I2C library.
This function turns on automatic scrolling of the LCD. This causes each character output to the display to push previous characters over by one space.
If the current text direction is left-to-right (the default), the display scrolls to the left, if the current direction is right-to-left, the display scrolls to the right.
I would love to know what projects you plan on building (or have already built) with these LCDs. If you have any questions, suggestions or if you think that things are missing in this tutorial, please leave a comment down below.
They are less conventional and have a low range of interfaces between 4x 16 Lcd displays in bulk and 4x 16 dual-ixel are more lightweight, and they offer a more detailed display of different functions. 4x16 lcd displays in bulk are optic for and, 4x16 dual-ixel, are more lightweight, and have a touch buttons that pop the difference.
While 16 lcd display are lightweight, they are easy to tell from the main difference between 4x 16 Lcd display and 4x 16 Density (SID)) The difference between 4x 16 LCD display and 4x 16 Density (displayH)) are between the two types and 4x 16 Pixel displays.
4x16 lcd modules are one of the most popular choices. While they are lightweight and have a short lifespan, the 4x16 lcd display modules are one of the most popular types.
When looking for a suitable type of 4x16 LCD display in bulk, there are two main types. 4x 16 lcd display in bulk, and one of the most common ones are the 4x16 LCD display in bulk, and the other type of 4x16 lcd display is one of the most common types. Tft lcd displays in bulk are available at wholesale prices.
I have developed a way to easily display 8 lines by 16 characters on a 128x64 Graphic LCD using a ST7920 driver chip on a SPI bus. This display is widely bought for it"s graphic display capabilities, however, this device is only capable of displaying a 4x16 English font as a default display mode. (see sample sketch available from DFRobot and others.) Many developers have wished for more character display capability. This program allows the use of this device as a character display eliminating the expense of a dedicated character display.
Connecting an LCD to your Raspberry Pi will spice up almost any project, but what if your pins are tied up with connections to other modules? No problem, just connect your LCD with I2C, it only uses two pins (well, four if you count the ground and power).
In this tutorial, I’ll show you everything you need to set up an LCD using I2C, but if you want to learn more about I2C and the details of how it works, check out our article Basics of the I2C Communication Protocol.
There are a couple ways to use I2C to connect an LCD to the Raspberry Pi. The simplest is to get an LCD with an I2C backpack. But the hardcore DIY way is to use a standard HD44780 LCD and connect it to the Pi via a chip called the PCF8574.
The PCF8574 converts the I2C signal sent from the Pi into a parallel signal that can be used by the LCD. Most I2C LCDs use the PCF8574 anyway. I’ll explain how to connect it both ways in a minute.
I’ll also show you how to program the LCD using Python, and provide examples for how to print and position the text, clear the screen, scroll text, print data from a sensor, print the date and time, and print the IP address of your Pi.
Connecting an LCD with an I2C backpack is pretty self-explanatory. Connect the SDA pin on the Pi to the SDA pin on the LCD, and the SCL pin on the Pi to the SCL pin on the LCD. The ground and Vcc pins will also need to be connected. Most LCDs can operate with 3.3V, but they’re meant to be run on 5V, so connect it to the 5V pin of the Pi if possible.
If you have an LCD without I2C and have a PCF8574 chip lying around, you can use it to connect your LCD with a little extra wiring. The PCF8574 is an 8 bit I/O expander which converts a parallel signal into I2C and vice-versa. The Raspberry Pi sends data to the PCF8574 via I2C. The PCF8574 then converts the I2C signal into a 4 bit parallel signal, which is relayed to the LCD.
Now we need to install a program called I2C-tools, which will tell us the I2C address of the LCD when it’s connected to the Pi. So at the command prompt, enter sudo apt-get install i2c-tools.
Now reboot the Pi and log in again. With your LCD connected, enter i2cdetect -y 1 at the command prompt. This will show you a table of addresses for each I2C device connected to your Pi:
We’ll be using Python to program the LCD, so if this is your first time writing/running a Python program, you may want to check out How to Write and Run a Python Program on the Raspberry Pi before proceeding.
The function mylcd.lcd_display_string() prints text to the screen and also lets you chose where to position it. The function is used as mylcd.lcd_display_string("TEXT TO PRINT", ROW, COLUMN). For example, the following code prints “Hello World!” to row 2, column 3:
On a 16×2 LCD, the rows are numbered 1 – 2, while the columns are numbered 0 – 15. So to print “Hello World!” at the first column of the top row, you would use mylcd.lcd_display_string("Hello World!", 1, 0).
You can create any pattern you want and print it to the display as a custom character. Each character is an array of 5 x 8 pixels. Up to 8 custom characters can be defined and stored in the LCD’s memory. This custom character generator will help you create the bit array needed to define the characters in the LCD memory.
The code below will display data from a DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor. Follow this tutorial for instructions on how to set up the DHT11 on the Raspberry Pi. The DHT11 signal pin is connected to BCM pin 4 (physical pin 7 of the RPi).
By inserting the variable from your sensor into the mylcd.lcd_display_string() function (line 22 in the code above) you can print the sensor data just like any other text string.
These programs are just basic examples of ways you can control text on your LCD. Try changing things around and combining the code to get some interesting effects. For example, you can make some fun animations by scrolling with custom characters. Don’t have enough screen space to output all of your sensor data? Just print and clear each reading for a couple seconds in a loop.