Introduction

This library is compatible with standard Character LCDs such as:

• Adafruit Standard LCD 16x2
• Adafruit RGB backlight negative LCD 16x2
• Adafruit RGB backlight negative LCD 20x4

Installing from PyPI

On supported GNU/Linux systems like the Raspberry Pi, you can install the driver locally from PyPI. To install for current user:

pip3 install adafruit-circuitpython-charlcd

To install system-wide (this may be required in some cases):

sudo pip3 install adafruit-circuitpython-charlcd

To install in a virtual environment in your current project:

mkdir project-name && cd project-name
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip3 install adafruit-circuitpython-charlcd

Dependencies

This driver depends on:

• Adafruit CircuitPython
• Adafruit CircuitPython BusDevice
• Adafruit CircuitPython MCP230xx
• Adafruit CircuitPython 74HC595

I2C & SPI displays also depend on:

• Bus Device

Please ensure all dependencies are available on the CircuitPython filesystem. This is easily achieved by downloading the Adafruit library and driver bundle.

Usage Example

The Character_LCD class interfaces a predefined Character LCD display with CircuitPython.

import board
import digitalio
import adafruit_character_lcd.character_lcd as character_lcd

You must define the data pins (RS, EN, D4, D5, D6, D7) in your code before using the Character_LCD class. If you want to have on/off backlight functionality, you can also define your backlight as lcd_backlight. Otherwise, the backlight will always remain on. The following is an example setup.

lcd_rs = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D7)
lcd_en = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D8)
lcd_d7 = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D12)
lcd_d6 = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D11)
lcd_d5 = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D10)
lcd_d4 = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D9)
lcd_backlight = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D13)

You must also define the size of the CharLCD by specifying its lcd_columns and lcd_rows:

lcd_columns = 16
lcd_rows = 2

After you have set up your LCD, we can make the device by calling it

lcd = character_lcd.Character_LCD_Mono(lcd_rs, lcd_en, lcd_d4, lcd_d5, lcd_d6, lcd_d7, lcd_columns, lcd_rows, lcd_backlight)

To verify that your pins are correct, print a hello message to the CharLCD:

lcd.message = "Hello\nCircuitPython"

Custom character example with create_char() is provided within /examples/

Documentation

API documentation for this library can be found on Read the Docs.

For information on building library documentation, please check out this guide.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read our Code of Conduct before contributing to help this project stay welcoming.