How to Set Up and Program an LCD on the Arduino

[@anthonyobryan3485]

This was my first attempt at something more complicated than lighting up LED's with a potentiometer. My kids and I were thrilled to see everything working according to the description. I went through the video and made my own notes on how to connect the LCD to the Arduino, then followed my notes for the actual connection. Everything worked perfectly with my Elegoo Arduino Uno. My next step is to tear it down and rebuild it over and over again until I can do it by instinct.

[@CircuitCreator]

Happy to read

[@rexpimplemyer3839]

These have been the most useful videos and articles I have seen on the Arduino so far. Arranged just like I learned BASIC years ago. Started with clear, concise instructions on assembly, then to simple programming, and then modifying existing builds to incorporate new coding. Very helpful. Thank you very much. I learned so much in the past hour than I have in days from know-it-alls who think I should have known where serial monitor was.

[@kennyball3956]

its ppl like u who make this hobby so accessable to the noob (ME) ur adding so much to this community and for that i doff my hat....keep the vids coming PLLLLZZZZZZZZ

[@brettpenza5149]

This is great. I was wrestling with this for 4 hours with other videos, some with annoying background music and zero instruction. This is great. No stories, political opinions, ridiculous background music. Just right to it. Excellent work, Thanks very much.

[@CircuitCreator]

;)

[@Geeman002]

Excellent video! There are lot of them out there, but you explain it so nicely, easy for a newbie like me to understand. I am a programmer, but new to electronics itself.

[@amtpdb1]

I appreciate the way you took us through this slow enough that we could do it along with you (with the stop button). I think I got more from this then alot of the videos I have seen that did not address WHY this was happening. Thanks for the great video.

[@marklaurence8504]

Clear concise and easy to follow, great video. your expanded label descriptions are very informative

[@burhannaveed1911]

Guess who got a sub??? You!!! Amazing video and very easy to understand.

[@TomMustBe12]

9 years later and still great tutorial thanks!

[@kristofferd4843]

THIS IS LITERALLY THE BEST VIDEO ON KZbin. I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIX MY LCD FOR 2 HOURS, BUT SOMEHOW IT WORKS NOW TANK YOU :D

[@cyberpunk7088]

LCD to Arduino pin1 to ground pin2 to positive pin3 to 10k pot midle (other pot pin to -ve and +ve) pin4 to A12 pin5 to ground pin6 to a11 pin16 to ground pin15 to 220oh to positive pin14 to a2 pin13 to a3 pin12 to a4 pin11 to a5

[@AritroVlogs]

correction: plug it into digital slots instead of analog. arduino uno doesn't have that many analog slots

[@hamzaquresh8930]

bro thank you bro you saved our bro life bro

[@hamzaquresh8930]

broo you broo rock broo

[@kishorreddy695]

Arduino uno has only 6 analog pins that is from a0 through a5 Then how come a11 and a12

[@samarthshetty6578]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2S6lICbdr6naNk

[@Syriancoder]

Thank you so much man. i have watched over 25 videos and this is the only one that worked. you just earned a new sub and like :)

[@WackyCreator]

BRO I JUST JOINED AND I LOVE THIS GUY. HES SO CHILL

[@adrianwilliams763]

Nice clear tutorial. Liked the way you started by demonstrating how the lcd screen was wired to the Arduino.

[@Circuitbasics]

Thank you

[@entropic7768]

yes helped alot

[@OllyGucci]

Thank you very much, this is the most helpful video i have come across so far, worked perfectly. Thumbs up!

[@vicktells5736]

love you bro, this helped me a lot. this made me look great in my parents watch of me getting good at arduino ...

[@TechInspected]

The only thing worth complaining about in this video is that you could have increased the volume of your mic. =) Thanks for the tutorial!

[@route-249]

Excellent video! Direct & to the point with a wealth of knowledge. Thanks...

[@grahamevans5304]

This video saves hours of confusion, it's beautifully created and presented. Thank you for making life easier for me sir.

[@blakecraft3868]

I FINALLY got my LCD screen to work thanks to this video. You, sir, are one helpful human.

[@chichico_gonzalez]

Gran Video Dude, estuve buscando varios videos pero ninguno iba al grano, y al momento de explicar eres bastante paciente. Gracias, sigue asi!

[@JLCPCB]

Very nice explanation! 🙂

[@petedoxat]

This is brilliant, very helpful thanks.

[@desiv1]

Thanx.. Just got my Arduino kit. First program was blink to show an LED going. But I saw that LCD in the kit and wondered if that would be too complicated for a next step. Found your vid and tried it.. Worked first time! (Well, the only POT I had was a 50k, and I didn't see anything at first and had to go up quite a bit before I saw the display, but it worked.) Thanx!

[@Circuitbasics]

+desiv1 no problem, glad you got it working!

[@tsbimbra]

Please except my thanks for sharing this . i learned a lot from this . Thanks again

[@KhanhPhan-mf3xx]

Thank you very much! I tried it and succeeded

[@elecomdesign7974]

I have never watched a tutorial so clear as this one. Your explanation is just excellent! thank you so much and I have learned a lot today.

[@ArunMurugan]

Really nice video.. got all the basics about lcd display!

[@angel_o8472]

Hi, do you have ideas about using flex sensors that will transfer messages in the LCD screen?

[@geenuenglishmentorgem6125]

i am very thankful to you this is best explained video love from india

[@satyaashokdowluri1129]

a very nice explanation sir. thank you

[@soniakanjani2587]

Thank you circuit basics you explained arduino very nicely

[@dimjim2365]

Thanks for a very informative video.

[@hubercats]

Thanks so much for making this helpful video!

[@Nathan-zg5kp]

I was mad because mine did not work, but then I realized I didn't even plug the power in

[@rolandojrpascual7284]

tanga ka

[@lanc5708]

I’m glad Ali a also had this issue

[@shanzydacunt8953]

death to commies

[@lanc5708]

Oliver34534 what

[@mochastellar]

LMAOOOO SAME

[@sailaharikakumani606]

Worth watching..... nicely explained.

[@tobiasgamified2146]

I actually detected an error in this setup, in the video he is connecting the end of the resistor to the MINUS current, it should be connected to the PLUS current, connecting it to the minus current will cause the display only to use back lightning, while putting it into the plus will make the lcd screen glow as it should :) hope it helps

[@aadithyarajangam37]

Truthfully guy in KZbin

[@yb6183]

It worked. Here is how i did it: I put the red wire on the left side of the potentiometer, and the black wire on the right, and the blue wire on the bottom

[@subbusubramanyam5292]

hey boss superb explanation i totally understood . thanks for uploding.

[@lilbee7492]

IT WORKED THANK YOU MAN

[@jefferyliu1260]

After following your tutorial, my LCD screen's backlight is working but no characters showed. Then I followed the Arduino menu, the characters worked but there is no backlight. :( Does anyone know the reason for my issue? Thx!

[@RedScythe29]

the resistance of the resistor is too high replace it with a jumper wire

[@cemprotecta]

Good video for starting with the basics of LCD in Arduino. Thanks a lot!

[@DDAintJoken]

Great instructional video, great blog too thanks

[@Circuitbasics]

Thank you

[@richardvanraay7055]

Thanks for taking the time to make such an informative teaching video. Thanks for speaking slowly and clearly.

[@CircuitCreator]

PIN 1 》GROUND PIN 2 》POSITIVE PIN 3 》10K POT PIN 4 》A12 PIN 5 》GROUND PIN 6 》A11 PIN 11 》A5 PIN 12 》A4 PIN 13 》A3 PIN 14 》A2 PIN 15 》220 Ω PIN 16 》GROUND

[@timjackson6467]

Thank you for such a great video and all your hard work - much enjoyed.

[@patrolman53]

For those who are having nothing appear on their LCD, make sure to start your arduino with the potentiometer all the way down / most resistance.

[@X60-z8h]

thank you so much i had rebuilt this 5 times and i didn't know this

[@matthewrobotalk6566]

Thanks for the help all i needed to know is the resister😄😄😄😄😄😄😄

[@tonlangenbach4881]

Great video,s Man and now i can make things go ..........;

[@vietho4991]

I got it lights but no words. I checked everything. Please help!

[@programzz]

have you fixed it, i got the same issue?

[@rossgrant1269]

I have also got lights but no text. I tried replacing the resistor with a potentiometer

[@programzz]

@@rossgrant1269 So yeah, the potentiometer worked for me

[@foodfeed12]

Ya same issue

[@bhargavgahtori9499]

Set contrast to full

[@MoeInL]

I did exactly as you said, the LCD lit up and I was able to control the contrast and I did upload the codes, but no characters appeared on my screen

[@Inertia888]

I'm just taking a shot in the dark since I don't have your set up in front me, I have to guess. But a mistake that I made early was not having the correct pins established in my code. Good luck to you

[@irfanmaqboolbari4028]

Same issue happened with me

[@abrorbekzukhriddinov6606]

yes it did happen as you said exactly on mine too broo! whay?

[@uzytkownikgoogle9304]

@Abrsh Tube thank you, I thought I did something wrong but I saw your comment and it worked

[@roy_shuvo]

thanks , it's working properly

[@michaelcerkez3895]

Hi, great videos. You're a good teacher slow and clear when you give your instructions. Keep up the good work, and yes I have subscribed and hit like.

[@JustFrana]

I connected mine identically with this video and double checked everything, but only the back light comes on and when i upload code it will not display the text ,, please please help with any suggestions

[@boozle4163]

Francois Terblanche did you ever figure out cause mine is same exact. Did all exact triple checked and nothing just the light

[@JustFrana]

Never got it right just gave up after a few weeks :(

[@GeekBoy03]

Check to make sure the pin headers are properly soldered on.

[@mog99lie]

Never give up. Adjust the pot! Check and check again. This works!

[@midnightskate]

make sure that you remember to connect your potentiometer to the positive and negative rails. I just made that silly mistake and it only powered the backlight

[@felixalexanderl]

by the way (i just found this out) but depending on the screen brightness you can put the 5v jumper wire onto 3.3v if you want it to be less bright or just unplay that wire completely and it will still work just less bright.

[@domingo2977]

what programming language is being used or would you recommend?

[@mohitrathi6724]

ardunio uses its own software for programming. it is a mixture of c and c++

[@lucasskywalker]

Great tutorial. Ty.

[@H4712]

Is the lcd soldering really necessary?

[@yt_show7967]

I liked it.........it really helped me

[@Popsickle950]

fantastic video, i have one issue though ( i'm a first timer ) my lcd comes on and everything but no text appears Ive tried using a 220 resistor and a 1k but still nothing, hope you can help! Really liked your method of showing how to get it set-up i searched through many videos before i got to this one and it got me really far in such little time!

[@Popsickle950]

+Popsickle950 i;m not getting that random gibberish that you had at the start after connecting it all up but hello world still doesnt load after some decent time

[@markuszhmurko2041]

just a question what is that thing that he plugs into the breadboard at 0:31 is it necesarry for the lcd to work

[@dannyl7602]

potentiometer, it adjusts the contrast of the screen

[@Harrythecoder]

is the potentiometer necessary?

[@Circuitbasics]

Nope, you can substitute a 1k to 3k ohm resistor, depending on how much contrast you want

[@mvo9856]

+Circuit Basics I have a project where I am going to be using remote control input to input passwords and interact with the LCD Monitor. That remote has + and - buttons. Can these be used to adjust the contrast?

[@pacovasda5955]

Mia Couch there's no reason to use a remote to control the contrast on your 16-2 LCD because pretty much once your contrast is adjusted, you don't need to readjust it. so why would you want to do that with a remote? You need to understand that attaching a remote to your circuit has absolutely nothing to do with the remote control sender but rather it has everything to do with the remote "receiver" as to whether you can wire it into a circuit and how you would add it to the circuit. The contrast itself is lightened and darkened by increasing and decreasing resistance with resistor or with a potentiometer, so for the remote to be able to control contrast, the remote would have to talk to the Arduino or some type of a processor and then that processor would have to send a varying signal to the contrast wires, so you could do it that way. You could do that with PWM also. If you use an infrared remote control to send your passwords someone can simply take pictures of and record your infrared signals and then repeat them to the receiver themselves and break into your lock because infrared signals can be seen at a distance and recorded and saved and shared.

[@BrekMartin]

You can use PWM on a spare pin to adjust contrast within software.

[@riseabovehate9476]

@@Circuitbasics I 1k and 3k aint working

[@theleerie2959]

I MADE IT! THANK YOU!

[@biohazardsoftworks4961]

I did it it worked even with a 330 olm resistor

[@ridhwaanhusein8274]

Awesome very helpful

[@JoeYerdon88]

Thanks so much for your video it really helped me!

[@ovokalev]

btw, what is the golden-ish thingy that you put on the breadboard at the start?

[@MADBASS77]

Thanks u friend. Good work

[@UKSeejay]

Fantastic tutorial (very helpful). showed me everything i needed to know and more. strongly advise any other noobs out there to give it a watch to.

[@Lewinner-nj6bh]

I did the exact same thing and the LCD is only showing white rectangles. Please somebody help me.

[@davidcruz100]

how did you put all exercises into one code ????

[@flashMXdesigner]

nice intro, was able to get my LCD going and did the exercises. thanks

[@hertztmitechnologies7630]

Well Explained, Thanks & Regards

[@felixcharbonneau1964]

Hello, Great explication but I follow every step of your video and when I put on my arduino, my lcd screen dosen't power up and make a shorts. Did you know why? Thanks

[@TapabratasTechTalks]

SAME HERE

[@JohnSmith-ed1sr]

Is the pot required?

[@wkornf]

how did your LCD backlight turn on before connecting the voltage source?

[@gabistoenescu2216]

I was about to asking the same question

[@GeekBoy03]

How does this one have the pins? Were they included, or you soldered some in?

[@Circuitbasics]

+GeekBoy03 I soldered them in. It's a 16 pin header

[@GeekBoy03]

Thanks for that info. You also did not specify which rheostat you were using. I have two in my kit, a 1K and 10K ohm variations. .

[@GeekBoy03]

Sorry, you said 10k in the video.

[@GeekBoy03]

I got it working, thanks a lot. However after a few minutes the character $ appears on the second line.

[@salmsnbaqmi684]

Thank you so much I have been trying to make it work for the past 2 days

[@TF2Shows]

Finally, everything works! Its my first ever project with arduino.

[@gopim40]

can i have your help to create an arduino program \

[@vasilaki47]

Will it work if I don't have a potentiometer?

[@iadrogue]

Perfect explanation! Thanx

[@SultanAlawad]

Please tell us why are you putting each wire in specific places, because I'm a beginner.

[@srisurya23]

notjustelectronicthings.blogspot.com/2019/06/lcd1602a.html check in this you will understand.

[@danya8958]

connected everything perfect but it didnt worked i am so dissapointed

[@jernejanzeljc4677]

Same

[@jorgerodriguez903]

Is it the same for a 20x4 LCD?

[@Ramaihaholic]

my LCD screen keeps showing a line of boxes, pls help (this is a school project)

[@studyelectrictech1236]

Me too, have you solved it??

[@Ramaihaholic]

@@studyelectrictech1236 well first of all, there is one of the same projects on the official arduino website and for me, that code did work

[@vkboss6411]

plz help me..my display just shows the square...nothing else...i check my potentiometer,vcc,vee,ground nd all other connection nd also all jumper wires...all are placed on right position...even i checked my all 16 pins of display with multimeter..all r perfect...then why i faced this problem

[@vkboss6411]

Taha Nadeem I hv done this 1 month ago dear...i have full coding...pblm is in the contrast pin...if u wanna more info call me or msg me on Whatsapp-9409663007

[@roussov]

Thank you so much!!!!!!!

[@mustafashahjeelani4997]

sir my LCD is displaying but not showing the print(hello world or anything else) . what is the reason?

[@kajusmakalius296]

can i use a resistor insted of potenciometer? and what ohm should i use?

[@ארדרמתי]

loved it and it realy helped me... thank you

[@theflyingdutchman787]

Thank you!! This worked for me!

[@taranagnew436]

can you program a serial enabled lcd screen the same way as a lcd screen?

[@michaeloverberg4034]

I did it the same way but the lcd does not light up and when I connect it to the 5v it shorts out

[@technaisci9489]

I think u should connect it to the 3.3 v

[@michaeloverberg4034]

TechNaiSci I actually found a different diagram and got it to work

[@technaisci9489]

Thats actually good

[@NehaYadav-qk6eb]

sir please provide some details for switching program

[@KJ7JHN]

Hi Circuit basics, could you please make a video on connecting the i2c version of the 16x2 lcd you have here to an ATMEGA2561? I've read the data sheet, and searched some FAQ's but have not been able to get a solid foundation for the ATMEGA2561. The problem is in setting the SCL and SDA pins, 25 and 26. This video would be awesome! Please and thank you.

[@louischung7731]

will the lcd still function if i put in 1k resistor instead of 220?

[@Vazzible_gaming]

So, maybe this is a stupid question but, how did you get the LCD display to be electrically common with your breadboard, more specifically what did you use to connect it to the board? Solder and wire?

[@Circuitbasics]

The LCD is a serial LCD, so there is no I2C backpack on the back of it. There is just a pin header soldered to the LCD that fits in a breadboard. Hope that helps!

[@Vazzible_gaming]

@@Circuitbasics I’ve soldered a male pin header to the LCD and I’m waiting on potentiometer kit.

[@freaker126]

thanks buddy. it works for me finally.

[@Inertia888]

On line 3, "LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 5, 4, 3, 2) I am trying to understand how this works. How does the Arduino know whether these pins are INPUT or OUTPUT? Why do we not need to type a line INPUT or OUTPUT?

[@Inertia888]

I have been having a problem with the temperature reading as 0degreesC. After switching the thermocouple so, cs, sck pins from 8,9,10 to 4,5,6 it works just fine. happy about it working but i don't think i'll be satisfied until i understand the whys.