Oh it hurts to read these non-responsive replies. I sure hope I get better "help" when I need it.
YES, the Parallax LCD, 2 lines x 16 characters with backlight and speaker, three pins on the back, is EASY TO USE WITH ARDUINO.
And there is ABSOLUTELY NO SOLDERING REQUIRED.
Sorry to shout but it seems that the s/n ratio here is really poor. :~
Here is some signal for you: the Parallax LCD requires only three wires, +5V, Ground, and Signal. The signal pin is assigned in the program sketch. You need the Arduino IDE, you need the ParallaxLCD library from here:
You can use the speaker to play tunes or beeps, you can make your own special characters, and you can use all of the library functions in the ParallaxLCD library with your Arduino, very easily.
Here is the example code from the library that shows how easy it is to use the Parallax LCD with your Arduino.
Is it common on this forum to get a whole page of non-answers and actual wrong information (lots of soldering? ) before someone actually addresses the question asked?
/*
NOTE: you must: #include <SoftwareSerial.h>
BEFORE including the ParallaxLCD.h header
*/
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
#include <ParallaxLCD.h>
#define ROWS 2
#define COLS 16
ParallaxLCD lcd(2,2,16); // desired pin, rows, cols
/**
* Initialize the 2-dimensional custom character byte array.
* Even though each 'byte' is 0-255, only the lowest 5 bytes are used. So only
* 0-31 are valid values.
*/
byte customCharacters[8][8] = {0, 4, 14, 31, 14, 4, 0, 0, // Diamond
0, 10, 14, 31, 31, 14, 4, 0, // Heart
0, 4, 14, 31, 14, 4, 14, 0, // Spade
4, 14, 4, 10, 31, 10, 4, 14, // Club (sorta...)
4, 14, 21, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, // Up
4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 21, 14, 4, // Down
27, 22, 13, 27, 22, 13, 27, 22, // Stipple pattern #1
29, 14, 23, 27, 29, 14, 23, 27 // Stipple pattern #2
};
void setup () {
lcd.setup();
delay(1000);
lcd.backLightOn();
lcd.at(1,4,"Milliseconds\0");
delay(1000);
lcd.off();
delay(1000);
lcd.on();
lcd.pos(0,1);
lcd.at(0,1,"m:\0");
for (int b=0; b<101; b+=5) {
lcd.at(0,3,millis());
delay(500);
}
lcd.empty();
lcd.print("Line Feed\0");
for (int b=0; b<51; b+=5) {
lcd.lf();
delay(500);
}
lcd.empty();
lcd.print("Chr Return\0");
delay(1000);
for (int b=0; b<51; b+=5) {
lcd.pos(0,11);
delay(500);
lcd.cr();
delay(500);
}
lcd.cursorBlock();
lcd.empty();
lcd.print("Block Cursor\0");
for (int x=1; x<16; x++) {
lcd.pos(1,x);
delay(500);
}
lcd.empty();
lcd.print("Underline Cursor\0");
lcd.cursorUnderline();
for (int x=1; x<16; x++) {
lcd.pos(1,x);
delay(500);
}
lcd.backLightOff();
lcd.cursorOff();
// Clear the screen and enjoy a brief interlude.
lcd.empty();
lcd.print("Music Maestro!\0");
lcd.playTone(213, 216, 223);
lcd.playTone(213, 216, 223);
lcd.playTone(214, 216, 227);
lcd.playTone(210, 217, 220);
lcd.playTone(210, 217, 222);
lcd.playTone(210, 217, 224);
lcd.playTone(210, 217, 226);
delay(3000);
/**
* Initialize the custom character slots on the LCD with the predefined values.
*/
int i;
for(i=0; i < 8; i++) {
lcd.setCustomCharacter(i, customCharacters[i]);
}
lcd.empty();
lcd.backLightOn();
// Now display them for 2 seconds each.
for(i=0; i < 8; i++) {
lcd.at((i%ROWS),1, "Custom Char \0");
lcd.at((i%ROWS),13, i);
lcd.printCustomCharacter(i);
lcd.cr();
delay(2000);
}
}
void loop () {
lcd.at(2,9,millis());
}
There are lots of videos on YT showing the Parallax LCD with Arduino. My current project is a SousVide crockpot PID temperature controller, using the Parallax LCD for data readout, settings, beeps, alarms, etc. Here's my video showing some of the calibration.
Cheers--
--TK