The LCD and Keypad Shield gives you a handy 16-character by 2-line display, 5 buttons and a controllable backlight, plug it straight in on top of your Arduino board or other project shields. The display is set behind the shield for a low profile fitment and nice look and we've included panel mounting screw holes in the corners.
Want to change your LCD contrast for a certain look, different temperatures or voltages? Here's our tutorial on LCD Contrast and Brightness
It's great when you want to build a stand-alone project with its own user interface that doesn't require a computer attached to send commands to your Arduino.
Works perfectly in 4-bit mode with the "LiquidCrystal" library included with the Arduino IDE, allowing you to control the LCD with a total of just 6 digital I/O lines. We've deliberately picked D4-D9 so that it doesn't interfere with pins required by other popular products such as the Ethernet Shield and EtherTen, so you can stack this on top of other shields to give you a local display.
The buttons provide "left", "right", "up", "down", and "select" while using just one analog input. That leaves the other analog inputs free for you to use in your projects. If mounting the shield in an enclosure with a metal faceplate, ensure the buttons are insulated from the faceplate.
The LCD backlight is connected to D3 and can be controlled for on/off, brightness and flashing effects. Please note that this is a 5V shield and not suitable for 3.3V boards.
Features:
- 16x2 LCD using HD44780-compatible display module (white characters on blue background).
- 5 buttons on one analog input (A0).
- LCD backlight with current limiting, brightness and on/off controllable by D3, can be moved to D2, D10, A1, A2, A3, A4 or A5 for easy project pin compatibility.
- Recessed LCD, panel mount screw holes and button layout suitable for panel or cabinet mounting if desired.
- Reset button.
- Power supply smoothing capacitor.
- Gold-plated PCB for maximum durability.
- Overlay printed on both the top and the bottom.
- Pins used by shield clearly marked, LiquidCrystal library setup reference is on the bottom of the pcb for convenience.
Resources
- LCD & Keypad Shield Quickstart Guide
- LCD & Keypad Shield Contrast Control
- LCD & Keypad Shield Backlight Control
- Schematic, including button voltage notes, backlight selection jumpers (PDF)
- Design files
- Combining the LCD & Keypad Shield and a USBDroid
- "LCD & Keypad Shield" section of the Freetronics Forum
