New in the Maker Shed: RGB Backlight LCD Displays

Arduino
New in the Maker Shed: RGB Backlight LCD Displays

These new Arduino compatible RGB Backlight LCD Displays from the Maker Shed are a fancy upgrade from standard 16×2 LCDs. Instead of just having a single color backlight, these LCDs have full color RGB! That means you can change the background color to anything you want; teal, chartreuse, orange, purple, whatever! Use the colors as a status indicator (flashing red for DANGER or ARMED of course,) for temperature monitoring, or just to make your project look pretty. Available in both Positive (shown above) and Negative (shown below) versions. (Note: the pictures are 3 photos cropped together. These displays only have 1 RGB LED so you cannot display more than one color at a time.)

  • 16 characters wide, 2 rows
  • Connection port is 0.1″ pitch, single row for easy breadboarding and wiring
  • Pins are documented on the back of the LCD to assist in wiring it up
  • Single RGB LED backlight included can be dimmed easily with a resistor or PWM and uses much less power than LCD with EL (electroluminescent) backlights
  • Can be fully controlled with only 6 digital lines! (Any analog/digital pins can be used) and 3 PWM pins for the backlight
  • Built in character set supports English/Japanese text, see the HD44780 datasheet for the full character set
  • Up to 8 extra characters can be created for custom glyphs or ‘foreign’ language support
  • Arduino LiquidCrystal library compatible.
  • Comes with 10K necessary contrast potentiometer and strip of header

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I am the Evangelist for the Maker Shed. It seems that there is no limit to my making interests. I'm a tinkerer at heart and have a passion for solving problems and figuring out how things work. When not working for Make I can be found falling off my unicycle, running in adverse weather conditions, skiing down the nearest hill, restoring vintage motorcycles, or working on my car.

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