Arduino Code | Arduino Lesson 11. LCD Displays - Part 1

Skip to main content Arduino Lesson 11. LCD Displays - Part 1 Arduino Code

• Overview
• Parts
• Breadboard Layout
• Soldering Pins to the Display
• Arduino Code
• Other Things to Do

• Single page
• Feedback? Corrections?
• Text View

Groups

• Learn Arduino

Featured Products view all

• Standard LCD 16x2 + extras $9.95 Add to Cart
• Premium Male/Male Jumper Wires - 40 x 6" (150mm) $3.95 Add to Cart
• Half Sized Premium Breadboard - 400 Tie Points $4.95 Add to Cart
• Adafruit METRO 328 Fully Assembled - Arduino IDE compatible Out of Stock

67 Beginner Skill guide

Arduino Code

The Arduino IDE includes an example of using the LCD library which we will use. You can find this on the File menu under Examples → Liquid Crystal → HelloWorld.

This example uses different pins to the ones we use, so find the line of code below:

Download File Copy Code LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 5, 4, 3, 2); LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 5, 4, 3, 2);

and change it to be:

Download File Copy Code LiquidCrystal lcd(7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12); LiquidCrystal lcd(7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12);

Upload the code to your Arduino board and you should see the message 'hello, world' displayed, followed by a number that counts up from zero.

The first thing of note in the sketch is the line:

Download File Copy Code #include <LiquidCrystal.h> #include <LiquidCrystal.h>

This tells Arduino that we wish to use the Liquid Crystal library.

Next we have the line that we had to modify. This defines which pins of the Arduino are to be connected to which pins of the display.

Download File Copy Code LiquidCrystal lcd(7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12); LiquidCrystal lcd(7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12);

The arguments to this are as follows:

Display Pin Name Display Pin Number Arduino Pin (in this example) RS 4 7 E 6 8 D4 11 9 D5 12 10 D6 13 11 D7 14 12 After uploading this code, make sure the backlight is lit up, and adjust the potentiometer all the way around until you see the text message

In the 'setup' function, we have two commands:

Download File Copy Code lcd.begin(16, 2); lcd.print("hello, world!"); lcd.begin(16, 2); lcd.print("hello, world!");

The first tells the Liquid Crystal library how many columns and rows the display has. The second line displays the message that we see on the first line of the screen.

In the 'loop' function, we also have two commands:

Download File Copy Code lcd.setCursor(0, 1); lcd.print(millis()/1000); lcd.setCursor(0, 1); lcd.print(millis()/1000);

The first sets the cursor position (where the next text will appear) to column 0 & row 1. Both column and row numbers start at 0 rather than 1.

The second line displays the number of milliseconds since the Arduino was reset.

Page last edited March 08, 2024

Text editor powered by tinymce.

Soldering Pins to the Display Other Things to Do Related Guides Circuit Playground Sound-Controlled Robot By Anne Barela beginner Ladyada's Learn Arduino - Lesson #1 By lady ada beginner Arduino Lesson 0. Getting Started By Simon Monk beginner Your browser does not support the video tag. This links to the guide Silicone Robo-Tentacle. Silicone Robo-Tentacle By Matthew Borgatti beginner Adafruit PCA9685 16-Channel Servo Driver By Bill Earl beginner Wave Shield Voice Changer By Phillip Burgess beginner Adalight Project Pack By Phillip Burgess beginner Introducing Adafruit Trellis By lady ada beginner Your browser does not support the video tag. This links to the guide Wireless Game Show Poppers for the Classroom!. Wireless Game Show Poppers for the Classroom! By itaparcade intermediate Animating Multiple LED Backpacks By Phillip Burgess beginner Create an Internet of Things Dashboard with Adafruit IO By M. Schwartz beginner Bluefruit LE Connect for iOS and Android By Collin Cunningham intermediate Adafruit Data Logger Shield By Bill Earl beginner Adafruit VS1053 MP3/AAC/Ogg/MIDI/WAV Codec Breakout... By Bill Earl beginner Low Power Coin Cell Voltage Logger By Phillip Burgess beginner

Create Wishlist

× Title Description Close Search Search

Categories