arduino - Serial Enabled LCD

What sort of LCD should should i be using to go with my Arduino?

I have used the HD44780-compatible LCD in the past, but heard that the Serial Enabled LCDs make life a lot easier.

Answer

It really depends upon what you want to do with the Arduino, besides displaying information on the LCD. Like you, I used an HD44780-compatible LCD for my first project, and while it worked fine, it consumed half of my digital I/O pins, and seriously limited what I could do with my project. If you don't really need a lot of I/O, that can be fine.

On the other hand, if you want to do more than that, a serial LCD interface may make more sense. They cost twice as much, but as you can see from this example, you can daisy chain with I2C.

/* Quick example to use FunGizmos serial LCD in I2C mode
*
* Connections between LCD & Arduino 
* LCD P2

*   Pin1 not connected
*   Pin2 not connected
*   Pin3 SCL -> Analog in 5 (Arduino has internal pullup resistor)
*   Pin4 SDA -> Analog in 4 (Arduino has internal pullup resistor)
*   Pin5 VSS -> gnd
*   Pin6 VDD -> +5V
*
* To enable I2C mode of LCD Pads of R1 must be jumpered on back of LCD 
* (Between R6 & R14 right below the black IC glob)
*

*/

#include 

int lcd_addr = 0x50; //default I2C hex address from datasheet
int blink;

void setup(){
  delay(1000); //allow lcd to wake up.


  Wire.begin(); //initialize Wire library

  // Wire library expects 7-bit value for address and shifts left appending 0 or 1 for read/write
  // Lets adjust our address to match what Wire is expecting (shift it right one bit)
  lcd_addr = lcd_addr >> 1;

  //Send lcd clear command
  Wire.beginTransmission(lcd_addr);
  Wire.send(0xFE); //Cmd char
  Wire.send(0x51); //Home and clear

  Wire.endTransmission();

  Wire.beginTransmission(lcd_addr);
  Wire.send(0xFE); //Cmd char
  Wire.send(0x70); //Display LCD firmware version
  Wire.endTransmission();

  delay(2000);

  //Send lcd clear command

  Wire.beginTransmission(lcd_addr);
  Wire.send(0xFE); //Cmd char
  Wire.send(0x51); //Home and clear
  Wire.endTransmission();

  Wire.beginTransmission(lcd_addr);
  Wire.send("Hi I'm using I2C");
  Wire.endTransmission();

  Wire.beginTransmission(lcd_addr);

  Wire.send(0xFE); //Cmd char
  Wire.send(0x45); //Set Cursor pos
  Wire.send(0x40); //Line 2
  Wire.endTransmission();

  Wire.beginTransmission(lcd_addr);
  Wire.send("FunGizmos.com");
  Wire.endTransmission();

}




void loop(){

  Wire.beginTransmission(lcd_addr);
  Wire.send(0xFE); //Cmd char
  Wire.send(0x45); //Set Cursor pos
  Wire.send(0x40+15); //Line 2 last char
  Wire.endTransmission();


  Wire.beginTransmission(lcd_addr);
  if(blink)
     Wire.send('*');
  else
     Wire.send(' ');
  Wire.endTransmission();
  blink = !blink;

  delay(500);

}