LCD Keypad Shield for Arduino

Arduino LCD Keypad Shield

This is a 16x2 LCD and Keypad shield for Arduino Uno, Diecimila, Duemilanove, Freeduino boards, and other Uno sized compatible boards such as the Sparkfun Redboard.

• Blue Backlight with white words
• uses 4 Bit Arduino LCD Library
• Left, Right, Up, Down and Select buttons
• Screen contrast adjustment
• Arduino Reset button

The board uses different pins to the Arduino example sketches, so to make the display work, use the following sequence of pins when starting the library:

LiquidCrystal lcd(8,9,4,5,6,7);

The buttons are connected to only one analog input pin through resistors to give a different voltage for each button, thus saving on input/output pins. Reading the buttons is easy and example code is shown below

Pin Connections

Note: Do not use pin Digital 10 when this board is plugged in (see here for more details)

The backlight is not dimmable by default. In order to make it dimmable using PWM see this instructable
www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-LCD-Backlight-Fix/

The board is a little bigger than an Arduino UNO (measuring 8cm x 6cm). This can be seen in the images.

// include the library code:
#include <LiquidCrystal.h>

// initialize the library with the numbers of the interface pins
LiquidCrystal lcd(8, 9, 4, 5, 6, 7);

void setup() {
  // set up the LCD's number of columns and rows:
  lcd.begin(16, 2);
  // Print a message to the LCD.
  lcd.setCursor(0,0);
  lcd.print("LCD Key Shield");
  lcd.setCursor(0,1);
  lcd.print("Press Key:");
}

void loop() {
  int x;
  x = analogRead (0);
  lcd.setCursor(10,1);
  if (x < 60) {
    lcd.print ("Right ");
  }
  else if (x < 200) {
    lcd.print ("Up    ");
  }
  else if (x < 400){
    lcd.print ("Down  ");
  }
  else if (x < 600){
    lcd.print ("Left  ");
  }
  else if (x < 800){
    lcd.print ("Select");
  }
}