Raspberry Pi LCD: How to Setup a 16×2 LCD Display

In this video I go through the steps of setting up a Raspberry Pi LCD 16x2 display. It’s a pretty easy process that even beginners should have no problems with following.
Full tutorial: https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-l...

You will need a few bits of extra equipment to complete this tutorial. This includes a 10k ohm potentiometer, 16x2 LCD display with header pins, a breadboard and some breadboard wire. It’s important to note that if you do not have a potentiometer you can replace this with a resistor that has a value between 5k and 10k ohms.

This screen is perfect for anyone who wants to display a small message that doesn’t require a large screen. You should find that 16x2 displays are great on both size and price when compared to large LCD screens.

There are a few different libraries around for communicating with the LCD board. Adafruit are pretty good with keeping their libraries up to date so it’s probably the best to stick to theirs. It’s also important to note that you do not need to use a library. You can code it from scratch but doing that is a lot more work.

There are a few things that can go wrong when doing this tutorial. For example, you may find that nothing is displayed on the screen. If this is the case, then it’s likely you have the pins setup wrong in your code. Double check the code and if that doesn’t fix it then take a look at the connections between the Pi and the LCD board.

Also to avoid ending up with a dodgy screen try and source them from a reputable supplier such as Spark Fun, Adafruit or products with good reviews on Amazon. Connecting cheap and dodgy electronics to the Pi will increase the risk of accidentally bricking it.

There is so much you’re able to do with such a simple screen. It’s perfect for displaying essential data from the Pi. This can include thing such as values from sensors connected to the Pi, temperatures and so much more.

Now I hope this video tutorial has helped you learn everything there is to know about setting up a Raspberry Pi 16x2 LCD display. If you have any feedback or anything else that you would like to share, then please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below or over at pimylifeup.com