I REALLY need help getting a sparkfun lcd to work with my arduino for school...

Other Hardware Displays
1

So for a class I have to use a lcd screen to depict a counter. This did not seem to be too large a task...but now i have setup a Basic 16x2 Character LCD - Amber on Black 3.3V - LCD-09054 - SparkFun Electronics lcd screen and i have been using this tutorial http://www.instructables.com/id/Connecting-an-LCD-to-the-Arduino/

i have wired everything up, and as of now i am using a 25 ohm resistor because i dont have a 10 k handy. the contrast on the lcd works, but it is not working with the hello world example in examples, and if it does manage to make symbols it just makes random shapes that look like they are moving in some sort of pattern....

any help would be greatly appreciated....

2

That LCD's supply voltage is 3.3V. Be sure to take that into account with the arduino you intend to use.

How do you have the 25 ohm resistor wired up?

3

sorry, i ment potentiometer.....

4

If it is a 25K potentiometer, it would likely work, but I can't say for sure.

If your display isn't damaged already, your first issue is going to be interfacing a 3.3V device with a (presumably) 5V arduino.