Character LCDs are a fantastic and cost-effective option when your project calls for a user-friendly output method. Besides being cheap and easy to use, these displays often offer enough usable screen real-estate for displaying simple status messages and interactive menu screens. However, the standard 16-pin interface can be quite a hassle to work with, and all the wires quickly clutter up your previously simple Arduino project. While there are some I2C character LCDs out in the wild, these models are often more expensive and sometimes difficult to work with. Therefore, I decided to build a simple-to-use alternative that allows you to control pretty much any standard 14 and 16-pin LCD display with only four wires.
Continue reading A simple custom I2C character LCD interface for Arduino projectsHow to use an EEPROM to permanently store data with your Arduino

Some Arduino boards have a built-in EEPROM that can be written to and read from in your programs. I not only want to discuss how that’s possible but I also want to show you an alternative while talking about EEPROMs and memory in general.
Continue reading How to use an EEPROM to permanently store data with your Arduino