Hi (again),

Can someone explain this guy with 2 left hands howto connect a LCD without soldering? I'dd like to test things first. And besides, the only soldering equipment I could find so far is quite a large 30Watt device. Its package sais its suitable for radio/TV's, that kind of stuff. Could I still try to use for finer work such as electronics? Last time I soldered something was 12 years ago.



I have a parallel LCD with 16 little holes. I think I know how to wire it, there are dozens of tutorials. But the connection between the LCD pin and my wiring is... loose.

The first thing I tried was placing it on a male header, which was put on a breadboard. I connected the header pins to the 5Volt, ground, microcontroller, and so on. When I put the Microcontroller on top of the header, it will switch on and display 8 of the 16 black blocks. Although the microcontroller should initialize and writes something to the LCD, I can only see those blocks. I think its because not all pins are making (proper) contact to those header pins. If I move the LCD a tiny little bit it will turn off or display all 16 black blocks.

So, how can I connect the pins properly without soldering yet? So far I have male headers, normal wires, more stiff prototyping cables for the breadboard and male headers. Maybe there are handy components for this? Or another trick?

Regards,
Rick

 

Good soldering skill is pretty much mandatory if you want to get into electronics.

 

Does the data sheet suggest a connector? Can you measure the pitch (distance between connector pads) and search for one based on the pitch and number of connections?

 

The lcds i have used have pins and you can use an old hard drive connector. If you just have holes in a circuit board solder in header pins first. ( Assuming the right pin spacing which is often correct )

 

Hi, thanks for all the replies!

@Blueroomelectronics
You are right, but so far I only have a (cheap) 30Watt solder device. I think its too big for electronics, but I should try something simple first. Just to get a feeling. Soldering 2 metal wires, stuff like that.

@Beenthere
I'm looking in the datasheets but there is nothing particular about connections. The only sheets I found are very small anyway, except from the driver part. By the way, I have these LCD's:
- ANAG Vision AV1610
- ANAG Vision AV0820
http://www2.produktinfo.conrad.com/...1-en-LCD_MOD_STN_BLAU_NEG_LED_WEISS_8_X_2.pdf

There is something about the pin dimensions though. For example:
"1.0 PTH , 1.8 PAD". Is that the radius of the hole and outer radius? I was hoping that male header would exactly fit, but its pins are too thin. But I guess these headers are available in all sizes?


@russ_hensel
All the LCD's I have just have holes instead of pins. Too bad


@Alberto
So far I connected the contrast pin to the ground, as suggested in several tutorials. But I do have potmeters now, so I can try to make it adjustable.