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Home » DIY » Arduino I2C LCD Backpack Introductory Tutorial

Arduino I2C LCD Backpack Introductory Tutorial

Posted on December 1st

Assume that you are moving towards a complex microcontroller project bundled with blinkers, beepers, and a
display panel. To link a standard 16×2 LCD directly with the microcontroller, for instance Arduino, you would need
atleast 6 I/O pins to talk to the LCD. However, if you use an LCD module with I2C interface, you only need 2 lines to
process the display information. Now a days, it is not necessary to buy an expensive I2C LCD for this task because
readymade serial backpack modules for standard LCDs are available at reasonable rates. You can use them with
LCD modules that have a HD44780 compatible interface with various screen sizes by attaching to the back of the
LCD module. This allows connection to your Arduino (or other microcontroller) using only four channels. Yippee!
I2C LCD Backpack

Hitachi’s HD44780 based 16×2 character LCD are very cheap and widely available, and is an essential part for any
project that displays information. Using the LCD backpack, desired data can be displayed on the LCD through the
I2C bus. In principle, such backpacks are built aorund PCF8574 (from NXP) which is a general purpose bidirectional
8 bit I/O port expander that uses the I2C protocol. The PCF8574 is a silicon CMOS circuit provides general purpose
remote I/O expansion (an 8-bit quasi-bidirectional) for most microcontroller families via the two-line bidirectional
bus (I2C-bus). Note that most backpack modules are centered around PCF8574T (SO16 package of PCF8574 in DIP16
package) with a default slave address of 0x27. If your backpack holds a PCF8574AT chip, then the default slave
address will change to 0x3F. In short, your backpack is based on PCF8574T and the address connections (A0-A1- A2)
are not bridged with solder it will have the slave address 0x27.

(address selection pads in the lcd

backpack)

Reference circuit diagram of an Arduino-compatible LCD backpack is shown below. What follows next is
information on how to use one of these inexpensive backpacks to interface with a microcontroller in ways it was
exactly intended.

(reference circuit diagram of the lcd backpack)

I2C LCD Display

Now let’s get started. At first you need to solder the backpack to your LCD module. Ensure that the backpack pins
are straight and fit in the LCD module, then solder in the first pin while keeping the backpack in the same plane
with the LCD. Once you have finished the soldering work , get four jumper wires and connect the LCD module to
your Arduino as per the instruction given below.
(lcd display to arduino wiring)

Arduino Setup

For this experiment it is necessary to download and install the “Arduino I2C LCD” library. First of all, rename the
existing “LiquidCrystal” library folder in your Arduino libraries folder as a backup, and proceed to the rest of the
process.
Next, copy-paste this example sketch for the experiment into the blank code window, verify, and then upload.

1. /*
2. Project: I2C LCD Backpack Arduino Experiment
3. By: T.K.Hareendran/TechNode Protolabz
4. For: http://www.electroschematics.com
5. Includes: Library from https://bitbucket.org/fmalpartida/new-liquidcrystal/downloads*
6. Hardware/Controller: See article
7. Software/Sketch: Precisely adapted – Ref: Internet
8. Date: December 2015
9. */
10. #include "Wire.h" // For I2C
11. #include "LCD.h" // For LCD
12. #include "LiquidCrystal_I2C.h" // Added library*
13. //Set the pins on the I2C chip used for LCD connections
14. //ADDR,EN,R/W,RS,D4,D5,D6,D7
15. LiquidCrystal_I2C lcd(0x27,2,1,0,4,5,6,7); // 0x27 is the default I2C bus address of the backpack-see article
16. void setup()
17. {
18. // Set off LCD module
19. lcd.begin (16,2); // 16 x 2 LCD module
20. lcd.setBacklightPin(3,POSITIVE); // BL, BL_POL
21. lcd.setBacklight(HIGH);
22. }
23. void loop()
24. {
25. lcd.home (); // Set cursor to 0,0
26. lcd.print("protolabz"); // Custom text
27. lcd.setCursor (0,1); // Go to home of 2nd line
28. lcd.print(millis());
29. delay(1000); // Blinks of backlight
30. lcd.setBacklight(LOW); // Backlight off
31. delay(500);
32. lcd.setBacklight(HIGH); // Backlight on
33. delay(1000);
34. }

download the sketch

If you are 100% sure that everything is okay, but you don’t see any characters on the display, try to adjust the
contrast control pot of the backpack and set it a position where the characters are bright and the background does
not have dirty boxes behind the characters. Following is a partial view of author’s experiment with the above
described code. Since the display used by the author is a very clear bright “black on yellow” type, it is very difficult
to get a good catch due to polarization effects.
(from author’s workbench)

Lab Note

The hardware configuration described have been tested with an Arduino UNO R3, a 16×2 LCD, and an I2C LCD
backpack purchased from an eBay seller. Further, the example sketch has been fully tested with a 4 bit interface as
described using Arduino IDE0022. Source code for the library used here and its official documentation can be
downloaded from the download section of this repository which comes in source and with examples that will get
you started. Additionally you have a full description of the library in the docs folder in HTML format that you can
browse. Have fun!

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Comments

1.
tkhareendran

While surfing I found a good I2C FAQ on the web. Ardent readers may find this very useful:

http://mbouget.perso.neuf.fr/i2c-faq.html

Posted on December 1, 2015

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