How to use 16x2 LCD with Arduino || Arduino tutorial

In this video I'm demonstrating how to start using a 16x2 LCD with an Arduino. The first example displays a static text message and number of seconds since Arduino reset. The next one covers modification of my Arduino ohmmeter project to display data on the 16x2 Hitachi HD44780 LCD.
It is a step by step tutorial, which will walk you through wiring the alphanumeric (text) LCD to work with Arduino Uno. You will also learn how to write a sketch (program), which lets you control the liquid-crystal display with the Arduino.
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Video, edit, voice by Chris Lorkowski

[@adastra123]

Thanks for breaking things down to the bare essentials. You answered questions as I was thinking of them . Subscribed , probably one of the best videos to instill confidence in anyone new to arduinos.

[@HariWiguna]

Welcome back Chris! Great content! Great presentation! Well done!

[@ElectronFunCom]

Thanks so much Hari! I've seen you managed to finish your Sudoku project - that's a really nice one :)

[@RubenLensvelt]

Great video! Videos like this are good starting points for new projects. Thanks for making this.

[@ElectronFunCom]

Thank you very much! I hoped this video would be a helpful starting point :)

[@codemasterz6074]

Hey man, thanks for the video. Would the arduino's 5V not suffice? Don`t have a ps. cheers.

[@jeevankumarreddyravuru8710]

Hi i am doing a project on blinking led with delay, the thing is there is some code in the examples for a led blink delay changing using a potentio meter but for me I have 3 LEDs and 3 potentiometers, by using these 3 potentiometers i want to control the delay of 3 LEDs individually i.e led 'A' blinking delay will be controlled by potentiometer ' A' and similarly for LED B and C, i tried many times but result is not as expected ,i am new to the programming plz help me

[@finitebites]

Super! Clear and concise as always!

[@ElectronFunCom]

+Moises Gonzalez Thanks a lot Moises! It's always nice to hear/read such kind words :)

[@TheAussiePirate]

: And where the hell have YOU been young man? Good to see you back Chris!!

[@ElectronFunCom]

+Carl Alm I know it's been a while since my last video Dad :) Thanks a lot for your great comment!

[@scotthepler5694]

Is there a way to reverse this? I would like to display on my PC the output of an HD44780 on my PC instead of using the LCD. Can this be done easily?

[@Bianchi77]

Nice video, thanks :)

[@shibnathbanerjee7857]

excellent circuits

[@Fidlaa]

And your KZbin video nice work tecnick nice!

[@ElectronFunCom]

Thanks a lot :)

[@Fidlaa]

ElectronFun.com you are welcome!

[@vandanatanna3731]

pls help dont have any kind of potentiometer but i have a lot kinds of resistors which can i use

[@ElectronFunCom]

You don't have to use potentiometers if you don't want to adjust contrast and backlight brightness. I would try using something close to 5k for the contrast and if it doesn't look good, you can try a bit higher or lower values. If you wan't the full backlight brightness, you can use just the 150 ohm resistor.

[@vandanatanna3731]

thx very much

[@ElectronFunCom]

No problem :)

[@a.morais1186]

Voltage divider

[@raovikas2100]

@@ElectronFunCom1 leg of 5k resister to pin 3 of LCD but where we have to connect another leg?? to +tive or -tive

[@jabintria]

Hi is this still up? I successfully uploaded the code but there are still no letters or anything on the screen. What do I do? please reply ASAP thanks

[@davidprice2861]

Ah, noticed later in the video the offending resistor was removed, I spoke too soon, good video thanks.

[@ElectronFunCom]

No problem, thanks for your comment :)

[@Dvir1300]

This is a really GREAT video. Thanks!!! Little help please: I'm speaking Hebrew, and want to add (or replace) the Hebrew alphabet to the ASCII table of a standard LCD. Is this possible? How do I do it?

[@edensmith1214]

mikeyancey.com/hamcalc/lcd_characters.php

[@snappyceiling1003]

It can't cuz Israeli language doesn't exist 😂

[@mateoslab]

My LCD doesn't say which pin is which, I checked the datasheet but that doesn't help :(

[@rayhanparvez2131]

Could you give me a code Link

[@kanpeng1133]

what is your website

[@ElectronFunCom]

Go to electronfun.com :)

[@michaeldecarlo8738]

The lcd works great but when I add the Ultrasonic Sensor HC-SR04 I get a garbled display, unreadable, all black boxes. Everything is wired and programmed correctly, what causes this? The data in the console is correct from the sensor.

[@ElectronFunCom]

It's difficult to say without seeing your setup. How do you power your components? Have you connected your LCD correctly?

[@michaeldecarlo8738]

I'm using the 5v from an arduino uno for everything. The lcd is hooked to the following pins: lcd(12,11,5,4,3,2). The sensor pins are trig 13 echo 9.

[@ElectronFunCom]

It looks normal, but have you tried disconnecting everything and starting from scratch? Sometimes a faulty jumper wire may give you a headache. I would also suggest checking the wires with a continuity tester.

[@michaeldecarlo8738]

I found the problem, it was a software error. I must have moved a pin placement and forgot to update the software to match. Works great now! Thanks for looking.

[@ElectronFunCom]

Thanks for letting me know, I'm glad you found the cause of your issue. :) Such mistakes happen a lot.

[@p_n4839]

please help me i dont have 150ohm resistor,but i have 100ohm and 200ohm resistor.what shall i do?

[@ElectronFunCom]

The 150ohm resistor is used to protect the backlight LED. Try using the 200ohm resistor, but your backlight may be a bit dimmer.

[@davidprice2861]

1K is the best

[@327kaybee]

Go buy some resistors ( :=)) sorry but could not resist)

[@momomimo23]

Do we really need the potentiometer and the resistor to use lcd display? Can I not use it?

[@momomimo23]

And can you explain why you assigned each resistor like that?

[@ElectronFunCom]

You don't even have to connect the backlight, If you don't need it. You could also use a properly selected resistor instead of the 10k potentiometer, if you don't want to adjust contrast. I used only one resistor to protect the backlight LED. I used Ohm's law to calculate the resistance I needed. If you want to read more about using this knowledge in practice, there is a nice article about it: learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/voltage-current-resistance-and-ohms-law/an-ohms-law-experiment.

[@momomimo23]

ElectronFun.com Oh... so that's the reason... Thanks. I understand it now. After watching a couple of videos, I can finally understand the reason to use resistor and potentiometer.

[@davidprice2861]

That's what I did, used 1K resistor to the 'A' pin. the circuit is wrong.. the 2K pot wont do anything..

[@jumbo999614]

About the pot and resistor for Backlight control. It would be great if show the calculation here.

[@Alexelectricalengineering]

Thumbs up :)

[@ElectronFunCom]

High Voltage Thanks a lot, as always :)

[@davidprice2861]

The circuit is wrong the pot connected to the backlight pin 'A" won't do anything.. unless you remove the 150Ω resistor..

[@ElectronFunCom]

The resistor is used to protect the backlight LED. If you 'opened' the pot all the way up, you could burn the backlight, because it would get full 5V.

[@ammaryassir1980]

Please help, the background light is working but no text is showing, i used the same schematics as shown both in the video and in the example sketch, any suggestions on why its not printing any text ?

[@ElectronFunCom]

Have you checked the contrast potentiometer? I would also double check all the jumper wires - sometimes even brand new jumper wires happen to be faulty.

[@ammaryassir1980]

I tried but no luck, i looked in another video and was able to display boxes but i wasn't able to display text.

[@ElectronFunCom]

I would try disconnecting everything and connecting it back. You may have connected something wrong and troubleshooting can be a real pain. Sometimes following the diagram once more may take less time.

[@ammaryassir1980]

I actually found the problem. the stupid me forgot to put the wires in the digital and not analog 😂 it was hard cause i have a nano 😂 anyway thanks alot for your help. ❤

[@ElectronFunCom]

It happens, that's why I advised connect everything from scratch 😃

[@aeshi001]

hi my display is working fine at first, my supply is a connected to a resistor to change it to 5V(i have also used 7805 voltage regulator IC and 5V zener diodes), but then when the supply (12V battery) is being charged by a DC generator we noticed that the regulating voltages we use is not working anymore which in turn makes the LCD display random characters. Please help! Thanks

[@ElectronFunCom]

What kind of fluctuation do you get on the 5V rail while charging the battery? Maybe the voltage is dropping or going up too much?

[@samanth6574]

Arduino codes pls

[@ElectronFunCom]

The project page is here: electronfun.com/project_2.php.

[@wannawan8431]

too small,cant see it