Objective:
In this project, we will use GPIO pins to send text to 1602 LCD screen.

If you don’t know what is GPIO layout, check our tutorial How to read Raspberry Pi i/o pin diagram (GPIO pin graph)

Parts:

1 pc Raspberry Pi 2/3/zero raspi
1 pc 8GB MicroSD memory card preinstalled Raspbian OS. 8gtf
1 pc 1602 LCD screen 1602LCD
1 pc Potentiometer Potentiometer
1 pc breadboard BREADBOARD
1 pc GPIO breakout kit(optional) breakout

Prerequisite:

Raspbian should be upgraded to latest version in order to support RPI.GPIO module
Please run following commands in shell:

Raspberry Pi and 1602 LCD pin connection

LCD Pin Description Pi Function RasPi Pin
01 GND GND 06
02 +5V +5V 02
03 Contrast To Potentiometer middle pin
04 RS GPIO7 26
05 RW GND 06
06 Enable GPIO8 24
11 D4 GPIO25 22
12 D5 GPIO24 18
13 D6 GPIO23 16
14 D7 GPIO18 12
15 +5V +5V 02
16 GND GND 06

Circuit Graph:

Caution: Unlike Arduino board 5V input voltage, Raspberry GPIO pin accept only 3 Volt. Wrong voltage input might damage the Pi board. Please be very careful!

Write python code
You have two ways to write python code:
Option 1)
download https://osoyoo.com/driver/pi_lcd.py and copy/paste it to raspberry pi

Option 2)
You can also download above python file from our server by typing following shell command:

sudo wget http://osoyoo.com/driver/pi_lcd.py

Finally, run following command in shell window:

sudo python pi_lcd.py

Adjust the Potentiometer to make LCD text displaying clearly. You will see following text string rolling in LCD screen:
LCD work with
Raspberry Pi!

Designed by
osoyoo.com

Read Tutorial @
osoyoo.com

Video Demo: