Did I break my LCD? (noob)

Other Hardware Displays
1

Hi everybody.

I got the starter kit from the Arduino store, and just got the the LCD "Crystal Ball" project yesterday. I did it, and everything went fine. Then today I went to try to integrate the LCD in my own projects, and it soon started to malfunction.

Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3

As you can see in picture one, only the left 16 boxes are operational. The right 8 are always at max, and the middle-right 8 are faded down. I loaded all of the LCD example sketches, and the problem persists in all of them. I checked and rewired the circuit several times to no avail.

I think I messed up the hardware somehow. Could I have damaged the screen somehow with incorrect wiring at some point in one of my projects? I was removing it a lot to get the wires just right, but I wasn't rough with it or anything. In picture 2, it looks as though there are micro-cracks across the pixels on the far right. One incorrect connection that I DID notice was that I had the illumination pin resistor wired to ground instead of power for the duration of the crystal ball project (I was wondering why the screen was so dim!).

Should I ask the store to send me another screen, or did I definitely cause this? If it's my fault, I'll just by a new one. If I got a faulty screen, I may ask for a replacement. Any help would be appreciated.

2

They are cheap, and not high quality. The background pin to ground has not to do with the chips of the LCD. Also wrong wiring should not cause this. I think you did not damage it.
You can ask for a replacement, but perhaps they say that you got what you paid for (something very cheap that can break by looking at it).

Did you buy from a respectable seller ? like this : Standard LCD 16x2 + extras [white on blue] : ID 181 : $9.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits
Then I would as for replacement.

Did you buy on Ebay ? like this : 1602 lcd -interface -port for sale | eBay
Then buy a new one.

3

That type of problem is related to the auxiliary controller which drives the right half of the display. Most likely it is due to a physical problem such as a broken trace on the pc board rather than a programming problem.

I have displays that are pushing 30 years old which have been inserted and removed from breadboards hundreds of times without damage so I would say that the Arduino Store (which should be a reputable vendor) should replace it.

Don