Driving bare LCD

John_S:

dhenry:
Dont worry about burning them out: lcds are tiny little capacitors.

Rightttt..... :roll_eyes:

When a capacitor is empty, it acts like a short. (check with a multimeter if you don't believe this)

If something is a short, its resistance is 0.

If the resistance is 0, the current is given by Ohm's law: I=V/R

Subbing in 5 for V and 0 for R you get: I = 5/0

I = infinity

How much current are the digital pins on the Arduino rated for?

An LCD display has tiny capacitance values and significant series resistance and inductance, you won't blow up a Arduino driving one!