Serial LCD tutorial
Apr 26, 2015 How to Set Up and Program an LCD on the Arduino In this video, I briefly show you how to connect a 16x2 LCD to an Arduino. Functions are available in the LiquidCrystal library to program it.
by djmatic
With a simple four wire connection and the code below, the Arduino can drive serial LCD displays.
The main advantage of serial LCD's is that they are easier to wire up, since the Arduino talks to the LCD over a single pair of wires.
This tutorial shows you how to connect a serial LCD made by Matrix Orbital to the Arduino. The code below lets you
- write text to the display,
- move the cursor around,
- turn the backlight on and off, or on for a certain amount of time, and
- do housekeeping functions like clearing the display or starting a new line.
Connecting the hardware
![Arduino Arduino](http://pliki.spectrum-pcb.com/obrazki/_y/index_/pcb/_bfen___pcb15.jpg)
Only a few connenctions are necessary between the Arduino and the LCD:
Data:
- connect the Arduino TX pin to the LCD's RX pin (the orange wire in this picture).
- connect the Arduino GND to the LCD's data ground pin (the purple wire).
Power:
- connect +5V from the Arduino to the display's +5V power input (the red wire in this picture).
- connect GND form the Arduino to the display's GND pin (the black wire).
The display shown uses less than 100ma with the backlight on, so it can be connected straight to the Arduino's power supply.
Note: the code below is for a non-inverted TTL serial signal. Some displays, like the one pictured above, have a jumper (J6 in this case) that you have to set in order for this to work.
The Code
While this code is for a Matrix Orbital LCD0821 display, most other serial displays (Scott Edwards' 'Serial Backpack', for example) will work in similar fashion, although you may have to change the serial speed, and the 'XX' in the '254 XX' command sequence, for clearing the screen and the like. If you bought a SparkFun LED, you should look at https://playground.arduino.cc/Learning/SparkFunSerLCD for the correct command codes. You will need to edit the clearLCD and the newLine methods and change the command codes.
Once you wire the LCD to the Arduino and Upload this code, you'll see 'Hello Arduino' on the display.