These monochrome LCD displays were originally used in old Nokia 5110 and 3310 cell phones, before smartphones made every phone like a TV. With an 84x48 pixel resolution and a 1.5 - inch diagonal size, they're small yet highly readable, featuring a white backlight. Made up of 84x48 individual pixels, you can use them for graphics, text, or bitmaps. They're affordable, easy to operate, need only a few digital I/O pins, and consume low power. To drive the display, you'll need 3 to 5 digital output pins (depending on manual control of chip - select and reset lines). You can control the backlight via on/off or PWM, as the backlight LEDs are connected to a transistor. The display uses a PCD8544 chip running at 3.3V, so a 3V supply is required (with a max current of about 10mA). Logic levels must be 3V to avoid damage, but we provide a free level - shifter chip for easy connection to 5V logic like Arduino. Since these screens are recycled from older phones, they may have tiny nicks or scratches, but they're hardly noticeable during use. We've written a great graphics library for easy use, which can print text, pixels, rectangles, circles, and lines. It's written for Arduino but can be easily adapted to your preferred microcontroller. We also offer a detailed wiring and usage tutorial with more info and photos.
Using this recycled monochrome LCD display is a breeze. First, make sure you have a 3V power supply handy as the display runs on 3.3V. You'll need 3 to 5 digital output pins to drive it. Decide if you want to manually control the chip - select and reset lines to determine the exact number of pins you'll use. You can control the white backlight either by simply turning it on or off or using PWM. We've included a free level - shifter chip, so you can connect it to a 5V logic device like an Arduino without any worries. When it comes to using the display for your projects, our graphics library can help you print text, draw pixels, rectangles, circles, and lines. Just install the library written for Arduino and adapt it to your microcontroller if needed. Since these screens are recycled, they might have tiny scratches, but don't worry, they won't affect your usage. For maintenance, keep the display in a dry and clean place. Avoid touching the screen with dirty hands to prevent more scratches. And don't forget to check out our detailed wiring and usage tutorial for more tips and photos.
