HD44780 Text LCD

Controlling text LCD panels, which use the HD44780 LCD display driver.

Hello World

Import programTextLCD_HelloWorld

Simple Hello World! for the TextLCD library

Library

Import libraryTextLCD

TextLCD library for controlling various LCD panels based on the HD44780 4-bit interface

Notes

Pin numberTextLCD pinsmbed pins
1GND0V
2VCC3.3V
3VO0V, via 1k resistor
4RSp15
5RW0V
6Ep16
7D0not connected
8D1not connected
9D2not connected
10D3not connected
11D4p17
12D5p18
13D6p19
14D7p20

Warning

The contrast VO pin seems to have different behaviour on different displays, so you may need to experiment for your display to see anything. I think I've seen some work tied to 0V, some to 3.3V, or with a different resistor.

Adjustable contrast can be achieved with a 10k trim-pot in a voltage divider configuration: one side to Vcc, other side to GND, wiper to VO. Adjust until you see a line of solid squares, then back off until they just disappear.

Some displays need a negative voltage at VO. One side of the trimpot is connected to the negative voltage instead of GND in that case. F.i. a Maxim MAX1044 can be used to generate the negative voltage.

Different LCD Panel Sizes

Setting the type field in the TextLCD constructor allows configuration for the different display panel sizes:

TextLCD::LCD16x2     16x2 LCD panel (default) 
TextLCD::LCD16x2B    16x2 LCD panel alternate addressing 
TextLCD::LCD20x2     20x2 LCD panel 
TextLCD::LCD20x4     20x4 LCD panel 

Note: There is now also support for

TextLCD::LCD8x1    8x1 LCD panel
TextLCD::LCD8x2    8x2 LCD panel
TextLCD::LCD16x1  16x1 LCD panel
TextLCD::LCD16x4  16x4 LCD panel
TextLCD::LCD24x2  24x2 LCD panel
TextLCD::LCD24x4  24x4 LCD panel (for KS0078 controller)
TextLCD::LCD40x2  40x2 LCD panel
TextLCD::LCD40x4  40x4 LCD panel (two controllers)

You can find the new lib here

For example:

#include "mbed.h"
#include "TextLCD.h"

TextLCD lcd(p15, p16, p17, p18, p19, p20, TextLCD::LCD20x4); // rs, e, d4-d7

int main() {
    lcd.printf("Hello World!\n");
}

Enhanced Version of Text LCD

An enhanced forked version of the original Text LCD is here

Reference

The underlying HD44780 chip is a driver used in many LCD character displays. It might sometimes be referred to as Hitachi HD44780U. There are also several compatible clones of this chip in use (eg Samsung KS0066).