I just started with Arduino and worked through the examples that came with my kit. I thought I had a decent understanding until I tried to hook up my first component, a graphic LCD. I think I'll be able to handle the programming side of things but am unclear on what to do with the wiring. The instructions are located on page 3 here and seem straightforward. http://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/LCD/GDM12864H.pdf I just don't understand the terminology. I'm also a little paranoid about frying something if I hook it up wrong. I'd really appreciate some help. What I have hooked up so far is:
Pin 1 - 5v supply on Arduino board.
Pin 2 - Ground (do I need a resistor?)
Pin 4-11 - Arduino control pins 0-7
The rest of the pins reference connection types that are new to me:
Pin 3,18 - Variable voltage? What do I do with this?
Pin 12,13 - I assume I'll connect these to control pins 8 and 9 and set those to HIGH to select the page I want?
Pin 14 - Connect to control pin 10 and set to HIGH to clear the screen?
Pin 15-17 - I have no clue.
Pin 19 - I don't have a 4.2v output on my Arduino Uno. What do I do here?
Pin 20 - Is this just a ground wire for the backlight?
Sorry to be asking such basic questions. If there's some tutorial I need to read, please point me to it.
The 5V from the Arduino to pin 19, the backlight LED, should go through a potentiometer, so that you can adjust the backlight brightness depending on ambient light. This allows you to cut the 5V down to 4.2V so you don't damage the non-replaceable backlight.
Yes, I have 5v running to pin 19. I'm not sure if this is right, but it's working.
Pin 18 runs to the outer leg of the potentiometer to provide power I assume and the other outer leg runs to ground. The center leg runs to Pin 3 which provides the "data" from the potentiometer to the LCD. Adjusting the potentiometer doesn't dim the backlight. Instead it partially turns on all the black pixels, which effectively makes the screen less bright.
