Basic 16x2 Character LCD - Red on Black 3.3V

A 16×2 character LCD display with striking red text on a black background, running at 3.3 V. It uses the industry-standard ST7066/HD44780 parallel interface, so existing libraries and example code for Arduino, mbed, AVR, and many other platforms work out of the box. The red LED backlight gives a distinctive look that stands out in projects and enclosures.

The display requires approximately 11 general I/O pins for the parallel interface. For projects where pin count is limited, consider pairing it with an I2C backpack or shift register.

Key Features

• 16×2 Character Display – Two rows of 16 characters (5×8 dot matrix)
• Red on Black – Red LED backlight with black background for high contrast
• 3.3 V Operation – Ideal for 3.3 V microcontroller systems
• ST7066/HD44780 Interface – Widely supported parallel interface
• High Quality STN LCD – Clear, readable text

Specifications

• Display – 16×2 characters, 5×8 dot matrix
• Controller – ST7066 (HD44780 compatible)
• Supply Voltage – 3.3 V
• Duty Cycle – 1/16
• Backlight – Red LED
• Dimensions – 80 × 36 × 8.6 mm (3.2 × 1.4 × 0.34″)

Ideal For

• 3.3 V microcontroller projects needing text output
• Instrument panels and status displays
• Projects requiring a distinctive red-on-black aesthetic
• Retro-style computing and embedded displays

Resources

• ST7066 Controller Datasheet (PDF)
• mbed Text LCD Example
• Character Generator (ZIP)