LCD display lights up but doesnt print anything

Other Hardware Displays
1

I just recently made a small circuit to try out the lcd display and i followed a tutorial to make sure nothing goes wrong but it did. So the display lights up and i can change the brightness of the characters but when i upload my code, the display fails to show anything other than the white boxes. Any help? (If in need of any specific photos I can take them no problem at all.)

int seconds = 0;
LiquidCrystal lcd_1(12,11,5,4,3,2);

void setup() {
 lcd_1.begin(16,2); // Set the number of columns and rows on the LCD.
 lcd_1.print("Hello World"); // Print a message on the LCD.
}

void loop() {
  lcd_1.setCursor(0,1); // Set the cursor to column 0,line 1
  // (Note: line1 is the second row, since counting begins with 0)
  lcd_1.print(seconds); //Print the number of seconds
  delay(1000);
  seconds += 1;
}

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2
  • First things first, the soldering on the display looks very suspicious :roll_eyes:

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2 Likes
3

Show a wire drawing of your contrast knob.

Missing the library for the LCD... with the library, your code works.

4

Tip: when soldering, make sure that the tip of the soldering iron touches both the pad and the pin to heat them up and then apply the solder so that it flows around both. It should take maybe 3-4 seconds to make each joint. Applying a little flux to the joint first should make the job easier. Make sure that the temperature of the iron is high enough for the solder you are using. Lead free solder melts at around 217deg. You need the temperature of the iron to be around 330deg to solder with it.

Its always difficult to tell for sure from a photo, but looking at those joints as shown, there seems every possibility that not all of them are making good contact with the solder and pads.

1 Like
5

Looks like ONLY the "RS" pin is properly soldered.

6

Yeah, there are about 4 pins with not enough soldering, it's an old kit I found which my father used to use

7

I dont understand?

8

Slight update to all, I've soldered all the pins again, it's not a masterpiece but I think it gets the job done. Is this good? Altough yet again it's still showing just the white boxes

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9

See post #3

10

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It's installed already.

11

You are missing a line of code... AND the word "Install" in your post means the library is not installed.

12

Which line of code is missing? And how is the library not installed, as shown in post #10 the library is installed and it's included in the code.

#include <LiquidCrystal.h>


int seconds = 0;
LiquidCrystal lcd_1(12,11,5,4,3,2);

void setup() {
 lcd_1.begin(16,2); // Set the number of columns and rows on the LCD.
 lcd_1.print("Hello World"); // Print a message on the LCD.
}

void loop() {
  lcd_1.setCursor(0,1); // Set the cursor to column 0,line 1
  // (Note: line1 is the second row, since counting begins with 0)
  lcd_1.print(seconds); //Print the number of seconds
  delay(1000);
  seconds += 1;
}
13

Update:

I tried resoldering everything one more time to make sure everything is fine and I added extra amounts of solder and now it works. Thank you for all your help

1 Like
14

The sketch in post #12 is not the same as post #1.

15

Extra solder is not good, but if it works, it is good enough. I will look for a good video instruction for soldering and post it in this post.

1 Like