The Nokia 5110 LCD module is a basic graphic LCD display that can be used in a wide range of applications. It uses the PCD8544 controller which is a low power CMOS LCD controller/driver that can be interfaced with the microcontroller using a serial interface.

Specifications

• Voltage: 3.3 V;
• Current: 320 mA
• SPI communication
• 84 x 48 characters

LCD controller module PCD8544 Red (LCD Compatible with Nokia 5110)  is ideal for your electronic projects where a 1602-type LCD is not enough. 5110 LCD enables you to display 84 x 48 pixels, creating images or other symbols.

LCD controller is a low consuming device, with current of 320 mA at a supply voltage of 3.3 V.

The display is very popular and used lately, is known for its simplicity. Sample code can be found in the attachments.

This module is easy to integrate to projects s because of its low energy consumption and small size especially when using a battery that needs a life as long as possible. Despite the relatively small size, it still offers a good resolution. It can display text, symbols and has blue back light. With appropriate libraries, it can display images in bitmap format.

Many devices use a lower voltage such as 3.3 V to consume low power as possible and save battery life. This LCD belongs to this category.

Usage with Arduino

To use the module will use two libraries:
http://cartearduino.ro/v1/link28.0

PCD8544 library contains functions to control all LCDs family PCD, such as 5110, 4110, 3110, etc.

GFX library contains functions to display various graphics:

http://cartearduino.ro/v1/link28.1

You will need these libraries. It is possible to install and without access http://cartearduino.ro/v1/link28.2 only using library manager.

The connections are shown in the figure below:

Attention, the voltage of the module is 3.3 V. It features a blue backlight, whose brightness is controlled potentiometer in the image. A simple resistor would be enough, but in this case you can not adjust the brightness. The module uses the SPI protocol to communicate with Arduino.

Load and run the example offered by Adafruit-PCD8544.h library. You can use the functions available to display text and characters. You can display bitmap images (low resolution). Bitmap format stores the image in pixels that make up the hexadecimal values. To display the bitmap image you want, you can use an online converter bitmap-to-hexadecimal, and then upload the values ​​obtained in an array of integer elements, as seen in the example.

Although relatively small in size, this display can display many more elements than the classic 16x2 LCD, such as a calendar. You can create a draft-STICKYNOTES digital alarm type, which you can use with a joystick to create a game or ADC Arduino to create a mini-oscilloscope.