Description

The display is composed of a 20 character x 4 line LCD display with a green backlight and white characters. Each of the characters are composed of a 5 x 8 dot matrix for good character representation. Custom characters can be defined and used with the display.

The backlight has a VO (Display Contrast) input for connecting a potentiometer for adjustment of the contrast of the display for best viewing. The potentiometer can be somewhere in the 10K-50K range and should connect between 5V and ground. The wiper output of the potentiometer feeds the VO pin with a variable voltage that sets the contrast. If this is not adjusted correctly the display may not show any characters or solid blocks may be displayed.

The backlight is powered off the A (Anode) and K (Cathode) pins. Normally 5V is applied to ?A? and ground to ?K?. The backlight includes a 51 ohm current limiting resistor, so an external resistor is not required.

The backlight can go down to about 3.2V before it goes out. It can be operated off the 3.3V line if a lower brightness is desired for the application. The backlight can be driven by a logic pin using a transistor if PWM brightness or ON/OFF control is desired.

Features

• Display 20 characters including letter, number and symbol in 4 lines on a large screen
• Operating voltage : 5V
• Contrast adjustable with a 50K potentiometer onside
• Bright backlight, displaying characters clearly
• Module dimensions: 97 x 59 x 12 mm;
• Viewing area size: 71 x 21 mm
• Works great with Arduino and other micro-controllers

Wiring

Note?

• RS : A register select pin that controls wherein the LCD?s memory you are writing data to. You can select either the data register, which holds what goes on the screen, or an instruction register, which is where the LCD?s controller looks for instructions on what to do next.
• R/W : A Read/Write pin to select between reading and writing mode
• E : An enabling pin that, when low-level energy is supplied, causes the LDC module to execute relevant instructions.
• D0 – D7 : To read and write data
• A and K : Pins that control the LCD backlight

Attachments

• LCD2004 Wiki – Sunfounder