arduino lcd display clock quotation

Sometimes it may be necessary to use a display while making a hardware project, but the size and the type of the display may vary according to the application. In a previous project, we used a 0.96″ I2C OLED display, and in this project we will have an I2C 20×4 character display.

This liquid crystal display has 4 lines, 20 character in each line and cannot be used to display graphics. The main feature of this display that it uses I2C interface, which means that you will need only two wires to connect with Arduino. At the back side of the screen there is a small PCB soldered in the display, this circuit is a serial LCD 20 x 4 module and it also has a small trimpot to adjust the contrast of the LCD.

Display’s backlight is blue and the text is white. It is fully compatible with Arduino and has 5V input voltage. Its I2C address could be 0x27 or 0x3F. You can get it for about $7 from Bangood store.

DS3231 is a low-cost, accurate I2C real-time clock (RTC), with an integrated temperature-compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO) and crystal. The device incorporates a battery input, so that if power is disconnected it maintains accurate time.

RTC maintains seconds, minutes, hours, day, date, month, and year information. Less than 31 days of the month, the end date will be automatically adjusted, including corrections for leap year. The clock operates in either the 24 hours or band / AM / PM indication of the 12-hour format. Provides two configurable alarm clock and a calendar can be set to a square wave output. Address and data are transferred serially through an I2C bidirectional bus.

First we need to download the library of the display, which includes all required functions to configure and write on the display. You can find it here.

Unzip the library and add it to the Arduino libraries folder, then run Arduino IDE and copy the following code. The first two lines are to include both of I2C and LCD libraries.

lcd.setCursor(3,0) will set the cursor of the LCD in the specified location, the first argument for the column and the second for the row starting form 0.

Here we will use a small breadboard to connect the RTC module and display with the Arduino’s I2C pins (A4 and A5). The SCL pins are connected with analog 5 pin and the SDA pins with analog 6 pin. The top rail of the breadboard used as I2C bus and the bottom one is power bus.

In addition to setup and loop function, we will create four other functions to organize the code. As the corners and vertical lines of the frame are special characters, we have to create them manually. So we will use a function to create them and another one to print them on the LCD.

Inside the loop function the time will be read from the real time clock module and the printed to the LCD using a custom function for each of time and date.

At first, we have to include the three libraries, I2C, LCD, and RTC and set the LCD address. Inside the setup function the display is initialized, then we will call createCustomCharacters() function and print them.

Each character can be 5-pixel long in width and 8-pixel in height. So to create a custom character we need to create a new byte. We need 5 characters, the vertical line and the four corners. The yellow pattern shows you how the character will be displayed on the LCD.

Inside createCustomCharacters() function, we called lcd.createChar(#, byte array) function. The LCD supports up to 8 custom characters numbered from 0 to 7. It will assign the index in the first argument to the character given by the byte array. To print this character we can use lcd.write(byte(#)) function.

This function is very simple, it uses lcd.setCursor(#,#) to move the cursor and lcd.print(“”) to print the given string. The function will print the top and bottom horizontal lines, then printing other custom characters.

As we discussed earlier, the loop function will get the current time and date every second and refresh them on the display. First we defined a time element “tm” which has current time data, then if the time is correct and the RTC module working fine the time and date will be printed.

PrintTime function uses three arguments, the column and line where it will print the time, and the time element. lcd.print(tm.Hour) will print the hour, then if the minutes and seconds are less than 10 we will add 0 to the left. And the same method is used to print the date.

Now everything is ready, upload the code to your Arduino and enjoy watching your new clock. You can find the full Arduino sketches and libraries in the attachment below.

I just happen to be playing around with RTC chips and I use a 16x2 LCD all the time for my testing. I have a little breadboard that I have wired up with a Nano, 16x2 LCD and currently a PCF8563 RTC. A couple days ago it was a DS1307. I think next I will play with a DS1302.

Here is a little sketch I wrote to check for clock drift. I wanted to know how much the Arduino time drifted when compared to the DS1307. I also check the time with time.gov.

I also added the "secs()" function to the Arduino system. I proposed to the powers that be that it would be a good addition to go along with the millis() and micros() functions. I also added a way to set the seconds so you could count the number of seconds from a known starting point like 1970/1/1. I was testing that as well.

What is the purpose of declaring LiquidCrystal_I2C lcd(0x27, 2, 1, 0, 4, 5, 6, 7, 3, POSITIVE); if we are using pins A4 and A5? I know that 0x27 is the ic address but what is the rest for?

I am getting a error while i m going to add zip file of lcd library error id this zip file does not contains a valid library please help me to resolve this issue as soon as possible.....

Hey guys. My LCD works fine using the above instructions (when replacing the existing LCD library in the Arduino directory) but I can"t get the backlight to ever switch off. Suggestions?

Hello friends welcome back to Techno-E-solution, In previous video we see how to interface LCD 16×2 to Arduino Uno, but there are very complicated circuits, so in this tutorial, I"ll show you how to reduce circuitry by using I2C module which is very compact & easy to connection. Simply connect I2C module with LCD parallel & connect I2C modules 4 pins to Arduino. I2C module has 4 output pins which contains VCC, GND, SDA, SCL where 5V supply gives to I2C module through VCC & GND to GND of Arduino. SDA is a data pin & SCL is clock pin of I2C module. To interface LCD and I2C with Arduino we need Liquid Crystal I2C Library in Arduino IDE software.

To make this project we need Arduino Liquidcrystal library in Arduino IDE. Follow following steps to add this library in Arduino IDE software.Open Arduino IDE Software.

Along 3 years I have been trying several leg mechanism, at first I decided to do a simple desing with tibial motor where placed on femur joint.This design had several problems, like it wasn"t very robust and the most importat is that having the motor (with big mass) that far from the rotating axis, caused that in some movements it generate unwanted dynamics to the robot body, making controlability worse.New version have both motors of femur/tibial limb at coxa frame, this ends with a very simple setup and at the same time, the heaviest masses of the mechanism are centered to the rotating axis of coxa limb, so even though the leg do fast movements, inertias won"t be strong enough to affect the hole robot mass, achieving more agility.Inverse Kinematics of the mechanismAfter building it I notice that this mechanism was very special for another reason, at the domain the leg normally moves, it acts as a diferential mecanism, this means that torque is almost all the time shared between both motor of the longer limbs. That was an improvent since with the old mechanism tibial motor had to hold most of the weight and it was more forced than the one for femur.To visualize this, for the same movement, we can see how tibial motor must travel more arc of angel that the one on the new version.In order to solve this mechanism, just some trigonometry is needed. Combining both cosine and sine laws, we can obtain desired angle (the one between femur and tibia) with respect to the angle the motor must achieve.Observing these equations, with can notice that this angle (the one between femur and tibia) depends on both servos angles, which means both motors are contributing to the movement of the tibia.Calibration of servosAnother useful thing to do if we want to control servo precisely is to print a calibration tool for our set up. As shown in the image below, in order to know where real angles are located, angle protactor is placer just in the origin of the rotating joint, and choosing 2 know angles we can match PWM signal to the real angles we want to manipulate simply doing a lineal relation between angles and PWM pulse length.Then a simple program in the serial console can be wrtten to let the user move the motor to the desired angle. This way the calibration process is only about placing motor at certain position and everything is done and we won"t need to manually introduce random values that can be a very tedious task.With this I have achieved very good calibrations on motors, which cause the robot to be very simetrial making the hole system more predictable. Also the calibration procedure now is very easy to do, as all calculations are done automatically. Check Section 1 for the example code for calibration.More about this can be seen in the video below, where all the building process is shown as well as the new leg in action.SECTION 1:In the example code below, you can see how calibration protocol works, it is just a function called calibrationSecuence() which do all the work until calibration is finished. So you only need to call it one time to enter calibration loop, for example by sending a "c" character thought the serial console.Also some useful function are used, like moving motor directly with analogWrite functions which all the calculations involved, this is a good point since no interrupts are used.This code also have the feature to calibrate the potentiometer coming from each motor.#define MAX_PULSE 2500 #define MIN_PULSE 560 /*---------------SERVO PIN DEFINITION------------------------*/ int m1 = 6;//FR int m2 = 5; int m3 = 4; int m4 = 28;//FL int m5 = 29; int m6 = 36; int m7 = 3;//BR int m8 = 2; int m9 = 1; int m10 = 7;//BL int m11 = 24; int m12 = 25; int m13 = 0;//BODY /*----------------- CALIBRATION PARAMETERS OF EACH SERVO -----------------*/ double lowLim[13] = {50, 30, 30, 50, 30, 30, 50, 30, 30, 50, 30, 30, 70}; double highLim[13] = {130, 150, 150, 130, 150, 150, 130, 150, 150, 130, 150, 150, 110}; double a[13] = { -1.08333, -1.06667, -1.07778, //FR -1.03333, 0.97778, 1.01111, //FL 1.03333, 1.05556, 1.07778, //BR 1.07500, -1.07778, -1.00000, //BL 1.06250 }; double b[13] = {179.0, 192.0, 194.5, //FR 193.0, 5.5, -7.5, //FL 7.0, -17.0, -16.0, //BR -13.5, 191.5, 157.0, //BL -0.875 }; double ae[13] = {0.20292, 0.20317, 0.19904 , 0.21256, -0.22492, -0.21321, -0.21047, -0.20355, -0.20095, -0.20265, 0.19904, 0.20337, -0.20226 }; double be[13] = { -18.59717, -5.70512, -2.51697, -5.75856, 197.29411, 202.72169, 185.96931, 204.11902, 199.38663, 197.89534, -5.33768, -32.23424, 187.48058 }; /*--------Corresponding angles you want to meassure at in your system-----------*/ double x1[13] = {120, 135, 90, 60, 135 , 90, 120, 135, 90, 60, 135, 90, 110}; //this will be the first angle you will meassure double x2[13] = {60, 90, 135, 120, 90, 135, 60, 90, 135, 120, 90, 135, 70};//this will be the second angle you will meassure for calibration /*--------You can define a motor tag for each servo--------*/ String motorTag[13] = {"FR coxa", "FR femur", "FR tibia", "FL coxa", "FL femur", "FL tibia", "BR coxa", "BR femur", "BR tibia", "BL coxa", "BL femur", "BL tibia", "Body angle" }; double ang1[13] = {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}; double ang2[13] = {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}; float xi[500]; float yi[500]; float fineAngle; float fineL; float fineH; int motorPin; int motor = 0; float calibrationAngle; float res = 1.0; float ares = 0.5; float bres = 1.0; float cres = 4.0; float rawAngle; float orawAngle; char cm; char answer; bool interp = false; bool question = true; bool swing = false; int i; double eang; int freq = 100; // PWM frecuency can be choosen here. void connectServos() { analogWriteFrequency(m1, freq); //FR coxa digitalWrite(m1, LOW); pinMode(m1, OUTPUT); analogWriteFrequency(m2, freq); //femur digitalWrite(m2, LOW); pinMode(m2, OUTPUT); analogWriteFrequency(m3, freq); //tibia digitalWrite(m3, LOW); pinMode(m3, OUTPUT); analogWriteFrequency(m4, freq); //FL coxa digitalWrite(m4, LOW); pinMode(m4, OUTPUT); analogWriteFrequency(m5, freq); //femur digitalWrite(m5, LOW); pinMode(m5, OUTPUT); analogWriteFrequency(m6, freq); //tibia digitalWrite(m6, LOW); pinMode(m6, OUTPUT); analogWriteFrequency(m7, freq); //FR coxa digitalWrite(m7, LOW); pinMode(m7, OUTPUT); analogWriteFrequency(m8, freq); //femur digitalWrite(m8, LOW); pinMode(m8, OUTPUT); analogWriteFrequency(m9, freq); //tibia digitalWrite(m9, LOW); pinMode(m9, OUTPUT); analogWriteFrequency(m10, freq); //FR coxa digitalWrite(m10, LOW); pinMode(m10, OUTPUT); analogWriteFrequency(m11, freq); //femur digitalWrite(m11, LOW); pinMode(m11, OUTPUT); analogWriteFrequency(m12, freq); //tibia digitalWrite(m12, LOW); pinMode(m12, OUTPUT); analogWriteFrequency(m13, freq); //body digitalWrite(m13, LOW); pinMode(m13, OUTPUT); } void servoWrite(int pin , double angle) { float T = 1000000.0f / freq; float usec = float(MAX_PULSE - MIN_PULSE) * (angle / 180.0) + (float)MIN_PULSE; uint32_t duty = int(usec / T * 4096.0f); analogWrite(pin , duty); } double checkLimits(double angle , double lowLim , double highLim) { if ( angle >= highLim ) { angle = highLim; } if ( angle <= lowLim ) { angle = lowLim; } return angle; } int motorInfo(int i) { enc1 , enc2 , enc3 , enc4 , enc5 , enc6 , enc7 , enc8 , enc9 , enc10 , enc11 , enc12 , enc13 = readEncoders(); if (i == 0) { rawAngle = enc1; motorPin = m1; } else if (i == 1) { rawAngle = enc2; motorPin = m2; } else if (i == 2) { rawAngle = enc3; motorPin = m3; } else if (i == 3) { rawAngle = enc4; motorPin = m4; } else if (i == 4) { rawAngle = enc5; motorPin = m5; } else if (i == 5) { rawAngle = enc6; motorPin = m6; } else if (i == 6) { rawAngle = enc7; motorPin = m7; } else if (i == 7) { rawAngle = enc8; motorPin = m8; } else if (i == 8) { rawAngle = enc9; motorPin = m9; } else if (i == 9) { rawAngle = enc10; motorPin = m10; } else if (i == 10) { rawAngle = enc11; motorPin = m11; } else if (i == 11) { rawAngle = enc12; motorPin = m12; } else if (i == 12) { rawAngle = enc13; motorPin = m13; } return rawAngle , motorPin; } void moveServos(double angleBody , struct vector anglesServoFR , struct vector anglesServoFL , struct vector anglesServoBR , struct vector anglesServoBL) { //FR anglesServoFR.tetta = checkLimits(anglesServoFR.tetta , lowLim[0] , highLim[0]); fineAngle = a[0] * anglesServoFR.tetta + b[0]; servoWrite(m1 , fineAngle); anglesServoFR.alpha = checkLimits(anglesServoFR.alpha , lowLim[1] , highLim[1]); fineAngle = a[1] * anglesServoFR.alpha + b[1]; servoWrite(m2 , fineAngle); anglesServoFR.gamma = checkLimits(anglesServoFR.gamma , lowLim[2] , highLim[2]); fineAngle = a[2] * anglesServoFR.gamma + b[2]; servoWrite(m3 , fineAngle); //FL anglesServoFL.tetta = checkLimits(anglesServoFL.tetta , lowLim[3] , highLim[3]); fineAngle = a[3] * anglesServoFL.tetta + b[3]; servoWrite(m4 , fineAngle); anglesServoFL.alpha = checkLimits(anglesServoFL.alpha , lowLim[4] , highLim[4]); fineAngle = a[4] * anglesServoFL.alpha + b[4]; servoWrite(m5 , fineAngle); anglesServoFL.gamma = checkLimits(anglesServoFL.gamma , lowLim[5] , highLim[5]); fineAngle = a[5] * anglesServoFL.gamma + b[5]; servoWrite(m6 , fineAngle); //BR anglesServoBR.tetta = checkLimits(anglesServoBR.tetta , lowLim[6] , highLim[6]); fineAngle = a[6] * anglesServoBR.tetta + b[6]; servoWrite(m7 , fineAngle); anglesServoBR.alpha = checkLimits(anglesServoBR.alpha , lowLim[7] , highLim[7]); fineAngle = a[7] * anglesServoBR.alpha + b[7]; servoWrite(m8 , fineAngle); anglesServoBR.gamma = checkLimits(anglesServoBR.gamma , lowLim[8] , highLim[8]); fineAngle = a[8] * anglesServoBR.gamma + b[8]; servoWrite(m9 , fineAngle); //BL anglesServoBL.tetta = checkLimits(anglesServoBL.tetta , lowLim[9] , highLim[9]); fineAngle = a[9] * anglesServoBL.tetta + b[9]; servoWrite(m10 , fineAngle); anglesServoBL.alpha = checkLimits(anglesServoBL.alpha , lowLim[10] , highLim[10]); fineAngle = a[10] * anglesServoBL.alpha + b[10]; servoWrite(m11 , fineAngle); anglesServoBL.gamma = checkLimits(anglesServoBL.gamma , lowLim[11] , highLim[11]); fineAngle = a[11] * anglesServoBL.gamma + b[11]; servoWrite(m12 , fineAngle); //BODY angleBody = checkLimits(angleBody , lowLim[12] , highLim[12]); fineAngle = a[12] * angleBody + b[12]; servoWrite(m13 , fineAngle); } double readEncoderAngles() { enc1 , enc2 , enc3 , enc4 , enc5 , enc6 , enc7 , enc8 , enc9 , enc10 , enc11 , enc12 , enc13 = readEncoders(); eang1 = ae[0] * enc1 + be[0]; eang2 = ae[1] * enc2 + be[1]; eang3 = ae[2] * enc3 + be[2]; eang4 = ae[3] * enc4 + be[3]; eang5 = ae[4] * enc5 + be[4]; eang6 = ae[5] * enc6 + be[5]; eang7 = ae[6] * enc7 + be[6]; eang8 = ae[7] * enc8 + be[7]; eang9 = ae[8] * enc9 + be[8]; eang10 = ae[9] * enc10 + be[9]; eang11 = ae[10] * enc11 + be[10]; eang12 = ae[11] * enc12 + be[11]; eang13 = ae[12] * enc13 + be[12]; return eang1 , eang2 , eang3 , eang4 , eang5 , eang6 , eang7 , eang8 , eang9 , eang10 , eang11 , eang12 , eang13; } void calibrationSecuence( ) { //set servos at their middle position at firstt for (int i = 0; i <= 12; i++) { rawAngle , motorPin = motorInfo(i); servoWrite(motorPin , 90); } // sensorOffset0 = calibrateContacts(); Serial.println(" "); Serial.println("_________________________________SERVO CALIBRATION ROUTINE_________________________________"); Serial.println("___________________________________________________________________________________________"); Serial.println("(*) Don"t send several caracter at the same time."); delay(500); Serial.println(" "); Serial.println("Keyboard: "x"-> EXIT CALIBRATION. "c"-> ENTER CALIBRATION."); Serial.println(" "i"-> PRINT INFORMATION. "); Serial.println(" "); Serial.println(" "n"-> CHANGE MOTOR (+). "b" -> CHANGE MOTOR (-)."); Serial.println(" "m"-> START CALIBRATION."); Serial.println(" "q"-> STOP CALIBRATION."); Serial.println(" "); Serial.println(" "r"-> CHANGE RESOLUTION."); Serial.println(" "p"-> ADD ANGLE. "o"-> SUBTRACT ANGLE. "); Serial.println(" "s"-> SAVE ANGLE."); delay(500); Serial.println(" "); Serial.println("---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"); Serial.print("SELECTED MOTOR: "); Serial.print(motorTag[motor]); Serial.print(". SELECTED RESOLUTION: "); Serial.println(res); while (CAL == true) { if (Serial.available() > 0) { cm = Serial.read(); if (cm == "x") { Serial.println("Closing CALIBRATION program..."); CAL = false; secuence = false; startDisplay(PAGE); angleBody = 90; anglesIKFR.tetta = 0.0; anglesIKFR.alpha = -45.0; anglesIKFR.gamma = 90.0; anglesIKFL.tetta = 0.0; anglesIKFL.alpha = -45.0; anglesIKFL.gamma = 90.0; anglesIKBR.tetta = 0.0; anglesIKBR.alpha = 45.0; anglesIKBR.gamma = -90.0; anglesIKBL.tetta = 0.0; anglesIKBL.alpha = 45.0; anglesIKBL.gamma = -90.0; } else if (cm == "i") { // + Serial.println(" "); Serial.println("---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"); Serial.println("---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"); Serial.println("(*) Don"t send several caracter at the same time."); delay(500); Serial.println(" "); Serial.println("Keyboard: "x"-> EXIT CALIBRATION. "c"-> ENTER CALIBRATION."); Serial.println(" "i"-> PRINT INFORMATION. "); Serial.println(" "); Serial.println(" "n"-> CHANGE MOTOR (+). "b" -> CHANGE MOTOR (-)."); Serial.println(" "m"-> START CALIBRATION."); Serial.println(" "q"-> STOP CALIBRATION."); Serial.println(" "); Serial.println(" "r"-> CHANGE RESOLUTION."); Serial.println(" "p"-> ADD ANGLE. "o"-> SUBTRACT ANGLE. "s"-> SAVE ANGLE."); Serial.println(" "); delay(500); Serial.println(" "); Serial.println("---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"); Serial.println(" "); Serial.print("SELECTED MOTOR: "); Serial.print(motorTag[motor]); Serial.print(". SELECTED RESOLUTION: "); Serial.println(res); Serial.println("Actual parameters of the motor: "); Serial.print("High limit: "); Serial.print(highLim[motor]); Serial.print(" Low limit: "); Serial.print(lowLim[motor]); Serial.print(" Angle 1: "); Serial.print(ang1[motor]); Serial.print(" Angle 2: "); Serial.println(ang2[motor]); Serial.println("---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"); } else if (cm == "m") { // + secuence = true; } else if (cm == "s") { // + } else if (cm == "n") { // + motor++; if (motor >= 13) { motor = 0; } Serial.print("SELECTED MOTOR: "); Serial.println(motorTag[motor]); } else if (cm == "b") { // + motor--; if (motor < 0) { motor = 13 - 1; } Serial.print("SELECTED MOTOR: "); Serial.println(motorTag[motor]); } else if (cm == "r") { // + if (res == ares) { res = bres; } else if (res == bres) { res = cres; } else if (res == cres) { res = ares; } Serial.print("SELECTED RESOLUTION: "); Serial.println(res); } } if (secuence == true) { Serial.print("Starting secuence for motor: "); Serial.println(motorTag[motor]); for (int i = 0; i <= 30; i++) { delay(20); Serial.print("."); } Serial.println("."); while (question == true) { unsigned long currentMicros = micros(); if (currentMicros - previousMicros >= 100000) { previousMicros = currentMicros; if (Serial.available() > 0) { answer = Serial.read(); if (answer == "y") { question = false; interp = true; secuence = true; } else if (answer == "n") { question = false; interp = false; secuence = true; } else { Serial.println("Please, select Yes(y) or No(n)."); } } } } answer = "t"; question = true; if (interp == false) { Serial.println("___"); Serial.println(" | Place motor at 1ts position and save angle"); Serial.println(" | This position can be the higher one"); rawAngle , motorPin = motorInfo(motor); calibrationAngle = 90; //start calibration at aproximate middle position of the servo. while (secuence == true) { /* find first calibration angle */ if (Serial.available() > 0) { cm = Serial.read(); if (cm == "p") { // + Serial.print(" | +"); Serial.print(res); Serial.print(" : "); calibrationAngle = calibrationAngle + res; servoWrite(motorPin , calibrationAngle); Serial.println(calibrationAngle); } else if (cm == "o") { // - Serial.print(" | -"); Serial.print(res); Serial.print(" : "); calibrationAngle = calibrationAngle - res; servoWrite(motorPin , calibrationAngle); Serial.println(calibrationAngle); } else if (cm == "r") { // + if (res == ares) { res = bres; } else if (res == bres) { res = cres; } else if (res == cres) { res = ares; } Serial.print("SELECTED RESOLUTION: "); Serial.println(res); } else if (cm == "q") { // quit secuence secuence = false; Serial.println(" | Calibration interrupted!!"); } else if (cm == "s") { // save angle ang1[motor] = calibrationAngle; secuence = false; Serial.print(" | Angle saved at "); Serial.println(calibrationAngle); } } } if (cm == "q") { Serial.println(" |"); } else { secuence = true; Serial.println("___"); Serial.println(" | Place motor at 2nd position and save angle"); Serial.println(" | This position can be the lower one"); } while (secuence == true) { /* find second calibration angle */ if (Serial.available() > 0) { cm = Serial.read(); if (cm == "p") { // + Serial.print(" | +"); Serial.print(res); Serial.print(" : "); calibrationAngle = calibrationAngle + res; servoWrite(motorPin , calibrationAngle); Serial.println(calibrationAngle); } else if (cm == "o") { // - Serial.print(" | -"); Serial.print(res); Serial.print(" : "); calibrationAngle = calibrationAngle - res; servoWrite(motorPin , calibrationAngle); Serial.println(calibrationAngle); } else if (cm == "r") { // + if (res == ares) { res = bres; } else if (res == bres) { res = cres; } else if (res == cres) { res = ares; } Serial.print("SELECTED RESOLUTION: "); Serial.println(res); } else if (cm == "q") { // quit secuence secuence = false; Serial.println(" | Calibration interrupted!!"); } else if (cm == "s") { // save angle ang2[motor] = calibrationAngle; secuence = false; Serial.print(" | Angle saved at "); Serial.println(calibrationAngle); } } } /*--------------------start calibration calculations------------------*/ if (cm == "q") { Serial.println("___|"); Serial.println("Calibration finished unespected."); Serial.println(" Select another motor."); Serial.print("SELECTED MOTOR: "); Serial.print(motorTag[motor]); Serial.print(". SELECTED RESOLUTION: "); Serial.println(res); } else { Serial.println("___"); Serial.println(" |___"); Serial.print( " | | Interpolating for motor: "); Serial.println(motorTag[motor]); secuence = true; //real angle is calculated interpolating both angles to a linear relation. a[motor] = (ang2[motor] - ang1[motor]) / (x2[motor] - x1[motor]); b[motor] = ang1[motor] - x1[motor] * (ang2[motor] - ang1[motor]) / (x2[motor] - x1[motor]); Serial.println(" | |"); } interp = true; } /*---------------------------make swing movement to interpolate motor encoder-----*/ if (interp == true and secuence == true) { delay(200); double x; int k = 0; int stp = 180; swing = true; i = 0; orawAngle , motorPin = motorInfo(motor); previousMicros = 0; while (swing == true) { // FIRST unsigned long currentMicros = micros(); if (currentMicros - previousMicros >= 10000) { // save the last time you blinked the LED previousMicros = currentMicros; x = x2[motor]; calibrationAngle = a[motor] * x + b[motor]; servoWrite(motorPin , calibrationAngle); rawAngle , motorPin = motorInfo(motor); if ((i % 3) == 0) { yi[k+1] = x; xi[k] = rawAngle; Serial.print(" | | Real ang: "); Serial.print(x); Serial.print(" -> Servo ang: "); Serial.print(calibrationAngle); Serial.print(" Enc: "); Serial.println(rawAngle); k++; } if (i >= stp) { swing = false; } i++; } } swing = true; i = 0; while (swing == true) { // moving unsigned long currentMicros = micros(); if (currentMicros - previousMicros >= 10000) { // save the last time you blinked the LED previousMicros = currentMicros; x = x2[motor] + float(i) * (x1[motor] - x2[motor]) / stp; calibrationAngle = a[motor] * x + b[motor]; servoWrite(motorPin , calibrationAngle); rawAngle , motorPin = motorInfo(motor); if ((i % 6) == 0) { yi[k+1] = x; xi[k] = rawAngle; Serial.print(" | | Real ang: "); Serial.print(x); Serial.print(" -> Servo ang: "); Serial.print(calibrationAngle); Serial.print(" Enc: "); Serial.println(rawAngle); k++; } if (i >= stp) { swing = false; } i++; } } swing = true; i = 0; while (swing == true) { // SECOND unsigned long currentMicros = micros(); if (currentMicros - previousMicros >= 10000) { // save the last time you blinked the LED previousMicros = currentMicros; x = x1[motor]; calibrationAngle = a[motor] * x + b[motor]; servoWrite(motorPin , calibrationAngle); rawAngle , motorPin = motorInfo(motor); if ((i % 3) == 0) { yi[k+1] = x; xi[k] = rawAngle; Serial.print(" | | Real ang: "); Serial.print(x); Serial.print(" -> Servo ang: "); Serial.print(calibrationAngle); Serial.print(" Enc: "); Serial.println(rawAngle); k++; } if (i >= stp) { swing = false; } i++; } } swing = true; i = 0; while (swing == true) { // moving unsigned long currentMicros = micros(); if (currentMicros - previousMicros >= 10000) { // save the last time you blinked the LED previousMicros = currentMicros; x = x1[motor] + float(i) * (x2[motor] - x1[motor]) / stp; calibrationAngle = a[motor] * x + b[motor]; servoWrite(motorPin , calibrationAngle); rawAngle , motorPin = motorInfo(motor); if ((i % 6) == 0) { yi[k+1] = x; xi[k] = rawAngle; Serial.print(" | | Real ang: "); Serial.print(x); Serial.print(" -> Servo ang: "); Serial.print(calibrationAngle); Serial.print(" Enc: "); Serial.println(rawAngle); k++; } if (i >= stp) { swing = false; } i++; } } swing = true; i = 0; while (swing == true) { // FIRST unsigned long currentMicros = micros(); if (currentMicros - previousMicros >= 10000) { // save the last time you blinked the LED previousMicros = currentMicros; x = x2[motor]; calibrationAngle = a[motor] * x + b[motor]; servoWrite(motorPin , calibrationAngle); rawAngle , motorPin = motorInfo(motor); if ((i % 3) == 0) { yi[k+1] = x; xi[k] = rawAngle; Serial.print(" | | Real ang: "); Serial.print(x); Serial.print(" -> Servo ang: "); Serial.print(calibrationAngle); Serial.print(" Enc: "); Serial.println(rawAngle); k++; } if (i >= stp) { swing = false; } i++; } } swing = true; i = 0; while (swing == true) { // moving unsigned long currentMicros = micros(); if (currentMicros - previousMicros >= 10000) { // save the last time you blinked the LED previousMicros = currentMicros; x = x2[motor] + float(i) * (x1[motor] - x2[motor]) / stp; calibrationAngle = a[motor] * x + b[motor]; servoWrite(motorPin , calibrationAngle); rawAngle , motorPin = motorInfo(motor); if ((i % 6) == 0) { yi[k+1] = x; xi[k] = rawAngle; Serial.print(" | | Real ang: "); Serial.print(x); Serial.print(" -> Servo ang: "); Serial.print(calibrationAngle); Serial.print(" Enc: "); Serial.println(rawAngle); k++; } if (i >= stp) { swing = false; } i++; } } swing = true; i = 0; while (swing == true) { // SECOND unsigned long currentMicros = micros(); if (currentMicros - previousMicros >= 10000) { // save the last time you blinked the LED previousMicros = currentMicros; x = x1[motor]; calibrationAngle = a[motor] * x + b[motor]; servoWrite(motorPin , calibrationAngle); rawAngle , motorPin = motorInfo(motor); if ((i % 3) == 0) { yi[k+1] = x; xi[k] = rawAngle; Serial.print(" | | Real ang: "); Serial.print(x); Serial.print(" -> Servo ang: "); Serial.print(calibrationAngle); Serial.print(" Enc: "); Serial.println(rawAngle); k++; } if (i >= stp) { swing = false; } i++; } } Serial.println(" | | Interpolation finished!"); /*-------Calculate linear interpolation of the encoder from 60 meassures done in swing------*/ double sx = 0; double sy = 0; double sx2 = 0; double sy2 = 0; double sxy = 0; double xmean = 0; double ymean = 0; int n = 300; for (int i = 0 ; i < n ; i++) { sx += xi[i+10]; sy += yi[i+10]; sx2 += xi[i+10] * xi[i+10]; sy2 += yi[i+10] * yi[i+10]; sxy += xi[i+10] * yi[i+10]; } ae[motor] = (n * sxy - sx * sy) / (n * sx2 - sx * sx); //sxy / sx2; // be[motor] = (sy - ae[motor] * sx) / n; //ymean - ae[motor] * xmean; Serial.println(" | | Moving back to ZERO position."); // turn the motor back to middle position swing = true; i = 0; while (swing == true) { unsigned long currentMicros = micros(); if (currentMicros - previousMicros >= 10000) { // save the last time you blinked the LED previousMicros = currentMicros; x = x1[motor] + float(i) * (90 - x1[motor]) / 60; calibrationAngle = a[motor] * x + b[motor]; servoWrite(motorPin , calibrationAngle); rawAngle , motorPin = motorInfo(motor); eang = ae[motor] * rawAngle + be[motor]; if ((i % 4) == 0) { Serial.print(" | | Servo ang: "); Serial.print(calibrationAngle); Serial.print(" -> Real ang: "); Serial.print(x); Serial.print(" -> Encoder ang: "); Serial.println(eang); } if (i >= 60) { swing = false; } i++; } } Serial.println("___|___|"); Serial.println(" | "); Serial.println("___"); Serial.println(" | Calibration finished satisfactory. Results data:"); Serial.print(" | HIGH lim: "); Serial.print(highLim[motor]); Serial.print(" LOW lim: "); Serial.println(lowLim[motor]); Serial.print(" | angle 1: "); Serial.print(ang1[motor]); Serial.print(" angle 2 "); Serial.println(ang2[motor]); Serial.print(" | Regression Motor a: "); Serial.print(a[motor], 5); Serial.print(" b: "); Serial.println(b[motor], 5); Serial.print(" | Regression Encoder a: "); Serial.print(ae[motor], 5); Serial.print(" b: "); Serial.println(be[motor], 5); Serial.println(" |"); Serial.println(" | ______________________________________________________________"); Serial.println(" | | |"); Serial.println(" | | This code won"t be able to save the updated parameters |"); Serial.println(" | | once the robot is shutted down. |"); Serial.println(" | | |"); Serial.println(" | | Please, write down the results |"); Serial.println(" | | and save them in the definition of each variable. |"); Serial.println(" | |_____________________________________________________________|"); Serial.println(" |"); Serial.println("___|"); Serial.println(" Select another motor."); Serial.print("SELECTED MOTOR: "); Serial.print(motorTag[motor]); Serial.print(". SELECTED RESOLUTION: "); Serial.println(res); } interp = false; secuence = false; } } SAFE = false; Serial.println("Calibration killed"); } // END OF CALIBRATION

A QR generation library was ported to the Arduino UNO and Seeed LCD touchscreen platform. Originally the generation time was 6 seconds, making the display of seconds impossible.

Using a fast TFT display library by @Xark allows seconds to be displayed. This library was modified to comply with the calling convention for @seeedstudio libraries, making it a drop in replacement in an existing sketch. By changing a compiler directive, this library can also control an @adafruit LCD.

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.

The 3-in-1 Smart Car and IOT Learning Kit from SunFounder has everything you need to learn how to master the Arduino. It includes all of the parts, wiring diagrams, code, and step-by-step instructions for 58 different robotics and internet of things projects that are super fun to build!

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:

All of the code below uses the LiquidCrystal library that comes pre-installed with the Arduino IDE. A library is a set of functions that can be easily added to a program in an abbreviated format.

In order to use a library, it needs be included in the program. Line 1 in the code below does this with the command #include . When you include a library in a program, all of the code in the library gets uploaded to the Arduino along with the code for your program.

Now we’re ready to get into the programming! I’ll go over more interesting things you can do in a moment, but for now lets just run a simple test program. This program will print “hello, world!” to the screen. Enter this code into the Arduino IDE and upload it to the board:

There are 19 different functions in the LiquidCrystal library available for us to use. These functions do things like change the position of the text, move text across the screen, or make the display turn on or off. What follows is a short description of each function, and how to use it in a program.

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 (°):

Arduino (open-source hardware and software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices. Its hardware products are licensed under a CC BY-SA license, while the software is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) or the GNU General Public License (GPL),manufacture of Arduino boards and software distribution by anyone. Arduino boards are available commercially from the official website or through authorized distributors.

Arduino board designs use a variety of microprocessors and controllers. The boards are equipped with sets of digital and analog input/output (I/O) pins that may be interfaced to various expansion boards ("shields") or breadboards (for prototyping) and other circuits. The boards feature serial communications interfaces, including Universal Serial Bus (USB) on some models, which are also used for loading programs. The microcontrollers can be programmed using the C and C++ programming languages, using a standard API which is also known as the Arduino Programming Language, inspired by the Processing language and used with a modified version of the Processing IDE. In addition to using traditional compiler toolchains, the Arduino project provides an integrated development environment (IDE) and a command line tool developed in Go.

The Arduino project began in 2005 as a tool for students at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, Italy,sensors and actuators. Common examples of such devices intended for beginner hobbyists include simple robots, thermostats, and motion detectors.

The name Arduino comes from a bar in Ivrea, Italy, where some of the project"s founders used to meet. The bar was named after Arduin of Ivrea, who was the margrave of the March of Ivrea and King of Italy from 1002 to 1014.

The Arduino project was started at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea (IDII) in Ivrea, Italy.BASIC Stamp microcontroller at a cost of $50. In 2003 Hernando Barragán created the development platform Casey Reas. Casey Reas is known for co-creating, with Ben Fry, the Processing development platform. The project goal was to create simple, low cost tools for creating digital projects by non-engineers. The Wiring platform consisted of a printed circuit board (PCB) with an ATmega128 microcontroller, an IDE based on Processing and library functions to easily program the microcontroller.Arduino.

Following the completion of the platform, lighter and less expensive versions were distributed in the open-source community. It was estimated in mid-2011 that over 300,000 official Arduinos had been commercially produced,

At the end of 2008, Gianluca Martino"s company, Smart Projects, registered the Arduino trademark in Italy and kept this a secret from the other co-founders for about two years. This was revealed when the Arduino company tried to register the trademark in other areas of the world (they originally registered only in the US), and discovered that it was already registered in Italy. Negotiations with Martino and his firm to bring the trademark under the control of the original Arduino company failed. In 2014, Smart Projects began refusing to pay royalties. They then appointed a new CEO, Federico Musto, who renamed the company Arduino SRL and created the website arduino.org, copying the graphics and layout of the original arduino.cc. This resulted in a rift in the Arduino development team.

At the World Maker Faire in New York on 1 October 2016, Arduino LLC co-founder and CEO Massimo Banzi and Arduino SRL CEO Federico Musto announced the merger of the two companies.

In April 2017, Wired reported that Musto had "fabricated his academic record... On his company"s website, personal LinkedIn accounts, and even on Italian business documents, Musto was, until recently, listed as holding a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In some cases, his biography also claimed an MBA from New York University." Wired reported that neither university had any record of Musto"s attendance, and Musto later admitted in an interview with Wired that he had never earned those degrees.open source licenses, schematics, and code from the Arduino website, prompting scrutiny and outcry.

By 2017 Arduino AG owned many Arduino trademarks. In July 2017 BCMI, founded by Massimo Banzi, David Cuartielles, David Mellis and Tom Igoe, acquired Arduino AG and all the Arduino trademarks. Fabio Violante is the new CEO replacing Federico Musto, who no longer works for Arduino AG.

In October 2017, Arduino announced its partnership with ARM Holdings (ARM). The announcement said, in part, "ARM recognized independence as a core value of Arduino ... without any lock-in with the ARM architecture". Arduino intends to continue to work with all technology vendors and architectures.

Under Violante"s guidance, the company started growing again and releasing new designs. The Genuino trademark was dismissed and all products were branded again with the Arduino name. As of February 2020, the Arduino community included about 30 million active users based on the IDE downloads.

In August 2018, Arduino announced its new open source command line tool (arduino-cli), which can be used as a replacement of the IDE to program the boards from a shell.

Arduino is open-source hardware. The hardware reference designs are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 2.5 license and are available on the Arduino website. Layout and production files for some versions of the hardware are also available.

Although the hardware and software designs are freely available under copyleft licenses, the developers have requested the name Arduino to be exclusive to the official product and not be used for derived works without permission. The official policy document on the use of the Arduino name emphasizes that the project is open to incorporating work by others into the official product.-duino.

An early Arduino boardRS-232 serial interface (upper left) and an Atmel ATmega8 microcontroller chip (black, lower right); the 14 digital I/O pins are at the top, the 6 analog input pins at the lower right, and the power connector at the lower left.

Most Arduino boards consist of an Atmel 8-bit AVR microcontroller (ATmega8,ATmega328, ATmega1280, or ATmega2560) with varying amounts of flash memory, pins, and features.Arduino Due, based on the Atmel SAM3X8E was introduced in 2012.shields. Multiple and possibly stacked shields may be individually addressable via an I2C serial bus. Most boards include a 5 V linear regulator and a 16 MHz crystal oscillator or ceramic resonator. Some designs, such as the LilyPad,

Arduino microcontrollers are pre-programmed with a boot loader that simplifies the uploading of programs to the on-chip flash memory. The default bootloader of the Arduino Uno is the Optiboot bootloader.RS-232 logic levels and transistor–transistor logic (TTL) level signals. Current Arduino boards are programmed via Universal Serial Bus (USB), implemented using USB-to-serial adapter chips such as the FTDI FT232. Some boards, such as later-model Uno boards, substitute the FTDI chip with a separate AVR chip containing USB-to-serial firmware, which is reprogrammable via its own ICSP header. Other variants, such as the Arduino Mini and the unofficial Boarduino, use a detachable USB-to-serial adapter board or cable, Bluetooth or other methods. When used with traditional microcontroller tools, instead of the Arduino IDE, standard AVR in-system programming (ISP) programming is used.

The Arduino board exposes most of the microcontroller"s I/O pins for use by other circuits. The Diecimila,Duemilanove,Unopulse-width modulated signals, and six analog inputs, which can also be used as six digital I/O pins. These pins are on the top of the board, via female 0.1-inch (2.54 mm) headers. Several plug-in application shields are also commercially available. The Arduino Nano and Arduino-compatible Bare Bones Boardbreadboards.

Many Arduino-compatible and Arduino-derived boards exist. Some are functionally equivalent to an Arduino and can be used interchangeably. Many enhance the basic Arduino by adding output drivers, often for use in school-level education,

Arduino and Arduino-compatible boards use printed circuit expansion boards called shields, which plug into the normally supplied Arduino pin headers.3D printing and other applications, GNSS (satellite navigation), Ethernet, liquid crystal display (LCD), or breadboarding (prototyping). Several shields can also be made do it yourself (DIY).

Some shields offer stacking headers which allow multiple shields to be stacked on top of an Arduino board. Here, a prototyping shield is stacked on two Adafruit motor shield V2s.

Adafruit Datalogging Shield with a Secure Digital (SD) card slot and real-time clock (RTC) chip along with some space for adding components and modules for customization

A program for Arduino hardware may be written in any programming language with compilers that produce binary machine code for the target processor. Atmel provides a development environment for their 8-bit AVR and 32-bit ARM Cortex-M based microcontrollers: AVR Studio (older) and Atmel Studio (newer).

The Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) is a cross-platform application (for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux) that is written in the Java programming language. It originated from the IDE for the languages brace matching, and syntax highlighting, and provides simple one-click mechanisms to compile and upload programs to an Arduino board. It also contains a message area, a text console, a toolbar with buttons for common functions and a hierarchy of operation menus. The source code for the IDE is released under the GNU General Public License, version 2.

The Arduino IDE supports the languages C and C++ using special rules of code structuring. The Arduino IDE supplies a software library from the Wiring project, which provides many common input and output procedures. User-written code only requires two basic functions, for starting the sketch and the main program loop, that are compiled and linked with a program stub main() into an executable cyclic executive program with the GNU toolchain, also included with the IDE distribution. The Arduino IDE employs the program avrdude to convert the executable code into a text file in hexadecimal encoding that is loaded into the Arduino board by a loader program in the board"s firmware.

From version 1.8.12, Arduino IDE windows compiler supports only Windows 7 or newer OS. On Windows Vista or older one gets "Unrecognized Win32 application" error when trying to verify/upload program. To run IDE on older machines, users can either use version 1.8.11, or copy "arduino-builder" executable from version 11 to their current install folder as it"s independent from IDE.

On September 14, 2022, the Arduino IDE 2.0 was officially released as stable.Eclipse Theia Open Source IDE. The main features available in the new release are:

Most Arduino boards contain a light-emitting diode (LED) and a current-limiting resistor connected between pin 13 and ground, which is a convenient feature for many tests and program functions.Hello, World!, is "blink", which repeatedly blinks the on-board LED integrated into the Arduino board. This program uses the functions pinMode(), digitalWrite(), and delay(), which are provided by the internal libraries included in the IDE environment.

The open-source nature of the Arduino project has facilitated the publication of many free software libraries that other developers use to augment their projects.

While in theory an Arduino can run any LCD, we believe that some LCDs are particularly suited to being an Arduino LCD display. We"ve currated this list of LCD displays that will make any Arduino-based project shine.

First is the interface. All of these displays support SPI. Builders often ask themselves (or us) "which interface uses the fewest GPIO pins? AND is that interface fast enough to update the screen at an acceptable rate for my application?" When using the relatively small procesor of the Arduino, SPI is usually the best interface because it takes few wires (either 3 or 4) however it does limit the overall size (number of pixels) that can be quickly controlled. I2C is another choice of interface to leave GPIOs open. We tend to recommend SPI over I2C for Arduino displays because SPI is quicker and better at handling more complex data transfer, like pulling image data from an SD card.

Which brings us to the second factor in choosing an Arduino display: the number of pixels. We typically recommend a display with a resolution of 320x240 or less for use with Arduino. Take for example a 320x240 24-bit display. Such a display takes 230,400 bytes *(8 + 2) = 2,304,000 bits for a single frame. Divide that by 8,000,000 (Arduino SPI speed of 8MHZ) = 0.288 seconds per frame or 3.5 frames per second. 3.5 fps is fast enough for many applications, but is not particularly quick. Using fewer bits-per-pixel or a display with fewer pixels will result in higher frame rates. Use the calculator below to calculate the frame rate for a display using SPI with an Arduino.

Third, we want to recommend displays that are easy to connect to an Arduino. Each of these displays has a ZIF tail or easily solderable throughholes, so no fine pitch soldering is needed. These displays can either be brought up on the CFA10102 generic breakout board, or with a custom CFA breakout board.

Most character displays can be run via Parallel connection to an Arduino. You"ll want to make sure you can supply enough current to operate the backlight.

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.

Note that an Arduino Uno with the R3 layout (1.0 pinout) also has the SDA (data line) and SCL (clock line) pin headers close to the AREF pin. Check the table below for more details.

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.

The LiquidCrystal_I2C library works in combination with the Wire.h library which allows you to communicate with I2C devices. This library comes pre-installed with the Arduino IDE.

To install this library, go to Tools > Manage Libraries (Ctrl + Shift + I on Windows) in the Arduino IDE. The Library Manager will open and update the list of installed libraries.

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.