Serial LCD board

The serial LCD board interfaces any HD44780-based LCD (this is the vast majority of LCD's you will encounter) with a three-wire serial interface, consisting of +5volts, ground and serial data. The board uses a programmed PIC chip, created by Maryland EE professor Peter Anderson, to convert serial commands, e.g. Serial.print("Freeduino"), into LCD text. Here is a command summary of the phanderson chip.

This boards turns any (HD44780-compatible) LCD into a serial LCD.

The assembled board. Although there are four pins on the connection header, most users will probably not use the extra line provided for the backlight voltage. A solder pad jumper to the right of the VBL header is provided to conveniently power the backlight with the 5 volt line.

The backlight current-limiting resistor (RBL) shown is for a 20x4 yellow-green display. There is a chart for RBL recommendations for our other displays at the bottom of this page. Or check the datasheet for your particular display and do the math. There's an example in the instructions.

Here's a screenshot of the board layout. The board mates nicely on the back of the vast majority of LCD's.

Hook up power, ground and data and you're good to go. No fussy libraries or handfuls of wires. Peter Anderson's feature set is really robust. You can check the command summary and sample code at the bottom of the page.

This board is engineered for microcontrollers. Brian Riley of wulfden.org has a similar board but his includes an inverter option. If you need to hook up an LCD directly to a computer RS232 serial port get his board.

I even programmed a custom character generator program, that will work with any LCD, not just our boards. In both Windows and Mac versions. See files at the bottom of the page. If I had any marketing savy at all I would have at least put a logo on it. Something for the next version I guess.

The LCD117 kit includes all the parts and chip to build the serial interface board shown at the top of the page. The kit also includes male and female header pins for mating the LCD117 board to the LCD. A three wire cable with female connections on both ends is now included with the kit for connecting the LCD 117 to a BBB or other microcontroller.

Some users have been puzzled by the connection to the analog pins above. Although the Arduino people have neglected documenting it for years, all of the analog pins may also be used as digital pins, addressed as pins 14 (analog 0) through 19 (analog 5). The BBB headers make interfacing LCDs and small servos easy.

The board fully assembled and tested piggybacked on a 2 x 16 LCD

This board is complete and fully assembled with a three wire cable that has female connectors on both ends. (also sold individully below) Used to connect the LCD 117 to a BBB or other microcontroller.

The default header arrangement for these boards is female headers on the bottom side of the LCD board, and male headers on the LCD.

If these are ordered with one of our displays, we will solder the pins on the display too, and test the whole assembly.

Other header arrangements available on request.

16 x 2 blue character LCD's (display only)

We now have a new supplier on these displays, and a new, lower prices too. The pins are on the top left, similar to 4 x 20 above. They require a 27 or 30 ohm RBL resistor for the backlight.

ModernDevice 16x2 Blue LCD datasheet

16 x 2 blue character LCD's with LCD117 board kit

The 16 x 2 LCD display above with the LCD117 serial driver kit. The kit now includes a three wire cable with female connections on both ends for connecting the LCD 117 to a BBB or other mircrocontroller. The LCD 117 board and cable make interfacing an LCD a snap.

20 x 4 blue LCD's (display only)

ModernDevice 20x4 Blue LCD datasheet

20 x 4 blue LCD with LCD117 board kit as seen above

This kit now includes a three wire cable with female connections on both ends for connecting the LCD 117 to a BBB.

12" Servo / LCD Cables with two female connectors.

Great for connecting servos or LCD's to the Bare Bones Board or any other breadboard. Come with double male headers for gender changing or daisy chaining two together.

Coding for the LCD board

Coding for the LCD117 board is really simple. "Hello World!" can literally be accomplished with one line:

Serial.print("Hello World!") - on a Freeduino/Arduino, other micocontrollers have their own syntax but the implementation is equally simple.

Below is link to Modern Device's version, for Freeduino/Arduino, of Peter Anderson's Basic Stamp demo program for the LCD117 chip. I used the Software Serial line so the board doesn't have to be connected to the TX line. In many circumstances though, where the LCD would stand in for a (PC) debugging tool, using the TX line (digital pin 1), would be the easiest thing to do.

Peter Anderson has a basic stamp demo program on his site.

Files & Links:

LCD117 Instructions.pdf
ModernDevice 16x2 Blue LCD datasheet
ModernDevice 20x4 Blue LCD datasheet
Which backlight resistor should I use?
Mac Custom Character Generator
Windows Custom Character Generator

Peter Anderson's LCD117 Command Summary - html
Peter Anderson's LCD117 Command Summary - MSWord documenet

Peter Anderson's LCD 117 chip page

Arduino demo sketch for Peter Anderson's chip:
Demo for 2 x 16 LCD display.
Demo for 4 x 20 LCD display.