Introduction

Features

Connections

Interface Specifications

Operating the LCD

Displaying Text

Position the Cursor

Setting Display Properties

Turning ON..OFF the Backlight

Adjusting the Backlight Brightness

Adjusting the Contrast

Defining Custom LCD Characters

Controller Circuit

Software

Conclusion

Related Links

References

Disclaimer

Introduction

The majority of the projects I design provide some sort of informational feedback to the user.  The primary device I use to provide feedback is a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) based on the Hitachi HD44780 LCD command set.  These LCDs use a standard 16 contact interface and are known as parallel devices.

The LCD can be operated in two modes: 8-bit and 4-bit, respectively.  A minimum of 11 microcontoller pins are needed for 8-bit mode and 7 are needed for 4-bit mode.  Dedicating 11 or 7 pins for the LCD might pose some unwanted limits on one’s design thus, we will create a serial LCD controller that only needs one output pin.

The Hobbybotics Serial LCD controller was designed as an alternative to some of the better-known controllers at a fraction of the cost.  The design and feature set is as robust as other well-known controllers such as those available from Parallax Inc and Scott Edwards Electronics.

** NOTE **

• The design presented here is just a prototype.  I intend to refine the design and present it in another article.
• The example code snippets assume that the controller is being interfaced to a Parallax BS2.  Reference the documentation for your chosen device to figure out how to send serial data.

Features

• Wraps text to the next line automatically
• Works at 9600, 19200, 38400, and 57600 baud
• Last selected baud rate is stored in EEPROM and recalled upon power up
• Cursor position is user settable
• Allows up to eight custom characters to be defined
• LCD backlight is software controllable and can be store in controller
• Robust command set
• Easy to implement control scheme in software or from microcontroller
• Displays ASCII character set directly to the display

Connections

Connecting the Serial LCD Backpack to a microcontroller or PC is straightforward, requiring just three connections, +5V, GND and RX.  See figure and tables for typical connections.

Table 1 – J1 Power/Serial Connector (4-pin)

Connector	Label	Function
J1-1	GND	Supply GND. Connect to microcontroller GND or DB9-5 of computer.
J1-2	VCC	Supply (+).  Connect to + supply of microcontroller.
J1-3	RXI	Connect to microcontroller serial pin or DB9-3 of computer

                          

Table 2 – J2 Inverted/Non-Inverted Serial Selection Jumper (3-pin)

Connector	Label	Function
J2-1 to J2-2	Non-Inverting	Jumper if connecting to a microcontroller.
J2-3 to J2-2	Inverting	Jumper if connecting to RS232 device (such as a serial port on computer).

Table 3 – J3 Inverted/Non-Inverted Serial Selection Jumper (3-pin)

Connector	Label	Function
J3-1 to J3-2	Inverting	Jumper if connecting to RS232 device (such as a serial port on computer).
J2-3 to J2-2	Non-Inverting	Jumper if connecting to a microcontroller.

 

Table 4 – J6 (ICSP) In Circuit Programming Connector (6-pin)

Connector	Label	Function
J6-1	PGM	N/A
J6-2	PGC	Connected to microcontroller RB6 or PGC pin
J6-3	PGD	Connected to microcontroller RB7 or PGD pin
J6-4	GND	Connected to GND and microcontroller GND pin
J6-5	VDD	Connected to +5V and microcontroller VDD pin
J6-6	MCLR	Connected to microcontroller MCLR pin

 

Table 5 – J4 and J5 LCD Connector (16-pin)

Name	LCD Pin	Controller Pin	Level	Function
VSS	1	N/A	0.0V	Supply GND connection for logic/LCD
VDD	2	N/A	5.0V	Supply voltage for logic/ LCD (+)
Vo	3	N/A	0.3V	LCD contrast adjust
RS	4	B0	H/L	Selects LCD register
R/W	5	B2	H/L	Read/Write signal
E	6	B1	H/L	Chip enable signal
DB0	7	N/A	H/L	Data Bit 0
DB1	8	N/A	H/L	Data Bit 1
DB2	9	N/A	H/L	Data Bit 2
DB3	10	N/A	H/L	Data Bit 3
DB4	11	B4	H/L	Data Bit 4
DB5	12	B5	H/L	Data Bit 5
DB6	13	B6	H/L	Data Bit 6
DB7	14	B7	H/L	Data Bit 7
A (+)	15	N/A	5.0V	LED Backlight (+)
K (-)	16	B3	H/L	LED Backlight (-).  PWM controlled

Interface Specifications

The Serial LCD is setup for a default baud rate of 9600 baud.  The baud rate can be set to values of 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600 and 115200.  This is accomplished by sending the sync byte 254 followed by the commands listed in the table below.  The last selected baud rate is saved in EEPROM and recalled on the next power recycle.  Ensure the connection to the serial port is refreshed at the new rate to ensure the devices stay in sync.

Example 1:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [254, 11, 1] ‘Set baud to H19200

Table 6 – LCD Baud Rates

Command 1	Command 2	Result
11	0	H9600
11	1	H19200
11	2	H38400
11	3	H57600

Operating the LCD

On power up the LCD goes through an initialization routine to allow the applied voltage to stabilize.  To allow for proper initialization ensure at least a 100ms delay before data/commands are sent.

Displaying Text

To display a character on the LCD, send the ASCII code of that character at the correct baud rate.  Once received, the LCD displays the character at the current cursor position and moves the cursor one position to the right.  If turned on, the current cursor position will be displayed by an under-carat.  When the characters reach the end of the first line the LCD automatically wraps the cursor position to the first character of the next line.

Example 2:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [“Hobbybotics.com”]

Position the Cursor

There are numerous commands for positioning the cursor on the display.  The cursor will automatically advance one space to the right after each character.  Extended commands allow the cursor to be advanced left or right one space and positioned at any location on the display.  If the cursor position is set in a location where there is existing text, the character will be overwritten starting at the cursor position whenever characters are received.

Example 3:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [254, 2, 0] ‘Move cursor left

Example 4:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [254, 2, 1] ‘Move cursor right

The cursor can be directly placed at any position on the display with the position cursor command.  Refer to the below table for an example LCD mapping.

Table 8 – Typical 4×20 Pixel Mapping

Line 1
HEX	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	0A	0B	0C	0D	0E	0F	10	11	12	13
DEC	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19

Line 2
HEX	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	4A	4B	4C	4D	4E	4F	50	51	52	53
DEC	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80	81	82	83

Line 3
HEX	14	15	16	17	18	19	1A	1B	1C	1D	1E	1F	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27
DEC	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39

Line 4
HEX	54	55	56	57	58	59	5A	5B	5C	5D	5E	5F	60	61	62	63	64	65	66	67
DEC	84	85	86	87	88	89	90	91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	100	101	102	103

A 4×20 character LCD is mapped like two separate 2×16 character LCD’s.  As such, once the cursor reaches the end of line 1 (position 19), it will normally wrap to line 3 (position 20).  However, the LCD controller corrects this so that the cursor will wrap to line 2 (position 64).

Example 5:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [254, 4, 65] ‘Line 2, position 2

Setting Display Properties

Various display modes can be set for the LCD.  These include turning the display on/off, turning on/off a blinking block cursor, turning on/off an under-carat cursor, and turning on both the block and under-carat cursors.  Turning off the display will not darken the display but will hide any text.  Characters can still be sent to the display when it is turned off but will not be visible until the LCD is enabled.

Example 6:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [254, 5, 0] ‘Disable display

Example 7:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [254, 5, 1] ‘Enable display

Example 8:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [254, 5, 3] ‘Cursor on

Turning ON..OFF the Backlight

The LCD backlight can be turned on/off using a simple command.  Refer to the below examples for usage.

Example 9:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [254, 9, 0] ‘Backlight off

Example 10:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [254, 9, 1] ‘Backlight on

Adjusting the Backlight Brightness

The LCD backlight is used to illuminate the display.  The brightness can be varied from 0 to 100% by passing a value 0 – 255.  The current brightness setting can be stored in the controller EEPROM by sending command <12> and recalled by command <13>.  The last stored value is also recalled on the next power cycle.  Refer to the below examples for usage.

Example 11:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [254, 10, 127] ‘50% brightness

Example 12:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [254, 10, 255] ‘100% brightness

Example 13:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [254, 12]    ‘Store level

Example 14:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [254, 13]    ‘Recall level

Adjusting the Contrast

The controller is equipped with a 10k potentiometer to control the contrast of the LCD.  This may need to be adjusted for optimum viewing.

Defining Custom LCD Characters

The character generator ram (CGRAM) built into the HD44780 compatible LCD controller allows eight custom characters to be stored into its static ram.  These characters are available so long as power is applied to the display.  Each byte of CGRAM is mapped to a 5 x 8 row/column of pixels.  Custom defined characters correspond to ASCII codes 0 through 7.  Writing to CGRAM is accomplished by sending the address location followed by eight byte values that correspond to the created character.  Refer to the below figure for an example custom character.

The custom character would be stored in the LCD memory using the below formatting.

Example 15:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [254, 7, 0, 0, 10, 10, 17, 17, 14, 0, 0] ‘Write to address 0

The above example would write the example custom character at memory address 0.  This leaves seven memory address locations available for custom characters.

Displaying a custom character stored in CGRAM can be accomplished simply by recalling the associated memory location.

Example 16:  Serout TxPin, i9600, [254, 8, 0] ‘Display character @ 0

Reference figure 1 for a typical LCD character set.  Add the row and column values for a given character.

Figure 1 – To find the ASCII code for a given character, add the row and column numbers.  CGRAM custom characters occupy locations 0 -7.

Documentation

• Board Files – Link

The schematic and PCB was developed with the freely available ExpressPCB software.

The project files and future updates can be found on my github page.

Build It

Reference the B.O.M above for a list of the parts necessary to complete the Hobbybotics Serial LCD Controller V3.0 board.

Reference the below layout file for component locations.

Firmware

The firmware for this project was developed using PicBasic Pro V2.60 from microEngineering Labs.  You will need to place both *.pbp files into the same directory in order for the code to properly compile.

Code Snippets:

I won’t rehash all of the code here as you can view the complete source for that but, I do want to point out some of the key routines.

Defines:

The following DEFINE statements need to be adjusted for the type of LCD you are developing for.  Specifically, the number of lines the particular LCD has (2-line or 4-line).  The other statements determine what ports will be used to interface to the LCD.  The default firmware is set up for a 4×20 character LCD:

Serial Interrupt Routine:

The firmware implements a serial interrupt routine to ensure that all of the data is captured.  First, we define the interrupt handler, “ON INTERRUPT goto Serial_Interrupt” and enable interrupts on USART, “PIE1.5 = 1.”  Second, we setup the baud rate flags BRGH and RCIF.  Third, we designate EEPROM locations 0 and 1 for storing the baud rate.  The baud rate settings are read during controller initialization and saved whenever changed.  The baud rate can be changed through commands from a microcontroller or PC.  Finally, we create the interrupt routine, “Serial_Interrupt:”

That wraps up the overview of the firmware so, let’s move along to the optional Windows control application.

Software

The windows application I developed for this project allows full control over the LCD functionality.  This application was developed with C# 2010.

Here is a screen capture of the application:

Number	Description	Control Function
1	Serial Setup	Establishes a serial connection.  Automatically detects available ports and saves previously used settings.
2	Text Display	Mirrors a 4×20 Character display.  Allows text to be sent to each line.
3	Keypad	Controls the position of the cursor and allows characters to be deleted.
4	ASCII Characters	Sends ASCII characters to the display.
5	Back-light Adjust	Turns ON..OFF the back-light and adjusts the brightness.
6	Display Settings	Enables..Disables the display and allows the cursor type to be set.
7	Cursor Position	Set the cursor to row..column position
8	Splash Screen	Enable..Disable the default LCD start-up splash screen.
9	Custom Character Generator	Create custom up to 8 custom characters and store them in the LCD memory locations 0..7.  Custom characters are only stored while power is supplied to the LCD.

There is a lot of built in functionality that I have not covered and even though the application is robust, it is still in development.  I will post future updates to my github page.

Conclusion

This project covered my design for a serial LCD controller based on a PIC16F628A from Microchip.  We began by discussing the features and connections that allow the controller to be interfaced to both a microcontroller and PC serial port.  Next, an explanation of the command-set was presented along with typical examples.  Finally, we built the project, reviewed key points of the firmware, and presented the optional windows application.  Armed with the information presented in this project, one should be able to implement a cost effective serial LCD controller and save some precious I/O pins.

Related Links

Hobbybotics Serial LCD Controller Gallery

References

• None

Disclaimer

This example shows hardware and software used to implement the design.  It is recommended the viewer use sound judgment in determining and/or implementing this example for any particular application.  This example may include information from 3rd parties and/or information which may require further licensing or otherwise.  Additional hardware or software may be required.  Hobbybotics or any affiliates does not support or warrant this information for any purpose other than a design example and takes no responsibility for any mishaps (none being implied).