LCD 16x2 Bricklet

Note

The LCD 16x2 Bricklet is discontinued and is no longer sold. The LCD 128x64 Bricklet is the recommended replacement.

Features

  • 16x2 character alphanumeric display
  • Switchable blue backlight
  • 3 push-buttons

Description

This LCD Bricklet is equipped with a 16x2 character alphanumeric display with blue backlight and three push-buttons. It can be controlled with Bricks. The API allows to write characters to the LCD, get the state of the buttons, switch the backlight on or off and configure events for the buttons.

You can use this Bricklet to display text, for example a name of a song that is played on your PC or measurements from other Bricklets.

Technical Specifications

Property Value
LCD Alphanumeric, 16 chars per line, 2 lines
Current Consumption with Backlight 28mA
   
Backlight Blue, software switchable
Contrast Adjustable with potentiometer
   
Dimensions 31 x 80 x 22mm (1.22 x 3.15 x 0.86")*
Weight 51g*

* without screws

Resources

Test your LCD 16x2 Bricklet

To test a LCD 16x2 Bricklet you need to have Brick Daemon and Brick Viewer installed. Brick Daemon acts as a proxy between the USB interface of the Bricks and the API bindings. Brick Viewer connects to Brick Daemon. It helps to figure out basic information about the connected Bricks and Bricklets and allows to test them.

Connect the LCD 16x2 Bricklet to a Brick with a Bricklet Cable (see picture below).

LCD 16x2 Bricklet connected to Master Brick

If you connect the Brick to the PC over USB, you should see a new tab named "LCD 16x2 Bricklet" in the Brick Viewer after a moment. Select this tab. If everything went as expected the Brick Viewer should look as depicted below.

LCD 16x2 Bricklet in Brick Viewer

Input a string into the text field. You can choose the line and the start position at which the text is displayed. Press "Send Text" to display it. Press "Backlight On" to turn the backlight on. Play around with the three on-board buttons and look how their values change.

After this test you can go on with writing your own application. See the Programming Interface section for the API of the LCD 16x2 Bricklet and examples in different programming languages.

Change LCD's contrast

To modify the contrast you have to turn the potentiometer on the Bricklet with a screwdriver. The potentiometer is attached next to the Bricklet connector.

Font

The Bricklet has an embedded font (ASCII subset in green) that allows fast and easy text rendering (up to 16x2 characters):

LCD 16x2 Bricklet font

Programming Interface

See Programming Interface for a detailed description.

Language API Examples Installation
C/C++ API Examples Installation
C# API Examples Installation
Delphi/Lazarus API Examples Installation
Go API Examples Installation
Java API Examples Installation
JavaScript API Examples Installation
LabVIEW API Examples Installation
Mathematica API Examples Installation
MATLAB/Octave API Examples Installation
MQTT API Examples Installation
openHAB API Examples Installation
Perl API Examples Installation
PHP API Examples Installation
Python API Examples Installation
Ruby API Examples Installation
Rust API Examples Installation
Shell API Examples Installation
Visual Basic .NET API Examples Installation
TCP/IP API    
Modbus API