You are on page 1of 7

LCD:

LCD can be abbreviated as Liquid Crystal display has


the distinct advantage of having a low power requirement
than that of LED. It is typically in the order of microwatts for
display as compared to the same order of milliwatts for LED.
It does however require an external or internal light source
and is limited to a temperature range of 0 to 60 degrees C.
Life time is an area because LCD can degrade chemically.
The types receiving major interest today are the Field-effect
and the dynamic-scattering units.

Liquid crystal is a material that will flow like a liquid


whose molecular structure has some properties normally
associated with solids for the light scattering units the
greatest interest is in nematic liquid crystal having crystal
structure. The individual molecules have rod like
appearance. The indium-oxide conducting surface is
transparent and the incident light will simply pass through
and crystal appears clear. If a voltage is applied across
conducting surfaces, the molecular arrangement is
disturbed, with the result the result that regions will be
established with different indices of refraction. The incident
light is therefore reflected in different directions at the
interface between regions of different indices of refraction
with the result that the scattered light has a frosted glass
appearance.

As indicated earlier LCD does not generate its own light


but depends on an external or internal source .Under dark
conditions it would be necessary for the unit to have its own
internal light source either behind or to the side of the LCD.
During the day, or in lighted areas, a reflector can be put
behind the LCD to reflect the light back through the display
for maximum intensity. For optimum operation we can use a
combination of transmissive and reflective modes called
transflective.

LCD JHD 162A:


Fig. below shows front view of LCD JHD162A:

Back view of the LCD:

There are 16 pins in all. They are numbered from left to


right 1 to 16 (if you are reading from the backside). LCD
shown above is marked to indicate which the 1st pin was
and which the 16th was. You can see the markings right next
to 1st and 16th pins.
We notice that there is a fine film covering the LCD display in
the first pic? We should not remove it until you finish
soldering wires and connectors to the pins. Otherwise, the
flux and the alcohol that you use during the soldering
process will ruin the LCD.

Pin Description:

Pin 1 and 2 are the power supply pins. They need to be


connected to the negative rail and the positive rail of a +5v
power supply respectively. To get a stable +5v Power
supply, you can use a 7805 voltage regulator. It will regulate
any voltage that you give it into +5v.

Pin 3 is the contrast setting pin. It is said that it must be


connected to a potentiometer to control the contrast.
However, it works if you just connect a variable resistor in
series with it to GND. The lower the resistance, the greater
the contrast. Set it at around 1.5K – 2K. If you set the value
too low or short the pin directly to ground, you will see only
dark boxes on the screen. You must set the voltage to
around 1-1.5V for optimum contrast.

Pins 4, 5 and 6 are control pins of the LCD.

Pins 7 to 14 are the Data pins of the LCD. Pin 7 is the least
significant bit and pin 14 is the most significant bit (MSB) of
the data inputs. If you want to display some number or letter
on the display, you have to input the appropriate ‘codes’ for
that character on these pins. These pins are also used for
giving certain commands to the display like clearing the
display or moving the cursor to a different location. Upon
giving the correct signals to the 3 control pins, the character
codes or the commands that you have given to the Data pins
will be written to the display or executed by the LCD
respectively.
Pins 15 and 16:

Most LCDs have a backlight. A backlight is a light within


the LCD panel which makes seeing the characters on screen
easier. When you leave your cell phone or mp3 player
untouched for sometime, the screen goes ‘dark’. That is the
backlight turning off. It is possible to use the LCD without the
backlight as well. Many LCDs come without a backlight. If
your LCD has only 14 pins, then it has no backlight.
However, the working of the LCD still remains the same even
if your LCD doesn’t have a backlight. The Backlight is
nothing but an LED. So, a resistor must be connected in
series with it to limit the current. The allowable current is
100ma. Then it is best to have a variable resistor (or a
transistor) and adjust the current till it is around 90mA.

The RS Pin:

The LCD has basically two operating modes: Instruction


mode and Character Mode. Depending on the status of this
pin, the data on the 8 data pins (D0-D7) is treated as either
an instruction or as character data. You have to activate the
command mode if you want to give an Instruction to the
LCD. Example – “Clear the display”, “Move cursor to home”
etc. You have to activate the character mode if you want to
tell the LCD to display some character. To set the LCD in
Instruction mode, you set the 4th pin of the LCD (R/S) to
GND. To put it in character mode, you connect it to Vcc.

The Enable Pin

The enable pin has a very simple function. It is just the


clock input for the LCD. The instruction or the character
data at the data pins (D0-D7) is processed by the LCD on the
falling edge of this pin. The Enable pin should be normally
held at Vcc by a pull up resistor. When a momentary button
switch is pressed, the Pin goes low and back to high again
when you leave the switch. Your instruction or character will
be executed on the falling edge of the pulse. (i.e. the
moment the switch closes)
The RW Pin

Generally, we always use the LCD to show things on the


screen. However, in some rare cases, we may need to read
from the LCD what it is displaying. In such cases, the R/W pin
is used. For all practical purposes, the R /W pin has to be
permanently connected to GND.
Fig above shows the 16 pins of an LCD:
Instruction Set for the LCD:
Here’s the character code table for the LCD which
shows the corresponding binary values for each character:

You might also like