Introduction

Introduction

The most commonly used Character based LCDs are based on Hitachi's HD44780 controller or other which are compatible with HD44580. In this tutorial, we will discuss about character based LCDs, their interfacing with various microcontrollers, various interfaces (8-bit/4-bit), programming, special stuff and tricks you can do with these simple looking LCDs which can give a new look to your application.

For Specs and technical information HD44780 controller Click Here

Pin Description

The most commonly used LCDs found in the market today are 1 Line, 2 Line or 4 Line LCDs which have only 1 controller and support at most of 80 charachers, whereas LCDs supporting more than 80 characters make use of 2 HD44780 controllers.

Most LCDs with 1 controller has 14 Pins and LCDs with 2 controller has 16 Pins (two pins are extra in both for back-light LED connections). Pin description is shown in the table below.



Figure 1: Character LCD type HD44780 Pin diagram

Pin No.	Name	Description
Pin no. 1	VSS	Power supply (GND)
Pin no. 2	VCC	Power supply (+5V)
Pin no. 3	VEE	Contrast adjust
Pin no. 4	RS	0 = Instruction input 1 = Data input
Pin no. 5	R/W	0 = Write to LCD module 1 = Read from LCD module
Pin no. 6	EN	Enable signal
Pin no. 7	D0	Data bus line 0 (LSB)
Pin no. 8	D1	Data bus line 1
Pin no. 9	D2	Data bus line 2
Pin no. 10	D3	Data bus line 3
Pin no. 11	D4	Data bus line 4
Pin no. 12	D5	Data bus line 5
Pin no. 13	D6	Data bus line 6
Pin no. 14	D7	Data bus line 7 (MSB)

Table 1: Character LCD pins with 1 Controller

Pin No.	Name	Description
Pin no. 1	D7	Data bus line 7 (MSB)
Pin no. 2	D6	Data bus line 6
Pin no. 3	D5	Data bus line 5
Pin no. 4	D4	Data bus line 4
Pin no. 5	D3	Data bus line 3
Pin no. 6	D2	Data bus line 2
Pin no. 7	D1	Data bus line 1
Pin no. 8	D0	Data bus line 0 (LSB)
Pin no. 9	EN1	Enable signal for row 0 and 1 (1stcontroller)
Pin no. 10	R/W	0 = Write to LCD module 1 = Read from LCD module
Pin no. 11	RS	0 = Instruction input 1 = Data input
Pin no. 12	VEE	Contrast adjust
Pin no. 13	VSS	Power supply (GND)
Pin no. 14	VCC	Power supply (+5V)
Pin no. 15	EN2	Enable signal for row 2 and 3 (2ndcontroller)
Pin no. 16	NC	Not Connected

Table 2: Character LCD pins with 2 Controller

Usually these days you will find single controller LCD modules are used more in the market. So in the tutorial we will discuss more about the single controller LCD, the operation and everything else is same for the double controller too. Lets take a look at the basic information which is there in every LCD.