Network Character LCD

Make your own network connected standalone LCD module with the help of character LCD and ESP8266 which can then be used in other electronics projects or from anywhere you can send an HTTP request.

Prerequisites

ESP8266 Development board
An I2C Character LCD
Breadboard and few jumper wires
Wi-Fi Router for network connectivity
Visual Studio Code with Platform IO extension

Hardware Connections

Connect the pin mentioned in first column with second column for that row with help of jumper wires and breadboard.
| ESP Developement board | I2C LCD |
| ——————- | ——————- |
| VIN | VCC |
| GND | GND |
| D1 | SCL |
| D2 | SDA |

Getting Started

Open the project in Visual Studio Code using Platform IO home. Enter your WiFi username and password in main.cpp file. Build the project and it should download all the required dependencies. Connect the ESP8266 Development board and upload the code to it. The LCD should display the IP address when network is successfully connected.

Display text on LCD

Send an HTTP POST request to http://{ip_address_of_esp}/display with content type of application/json.

{
    "data": [
        {"text": "Line 1", "align":1},
        {"text": "This should appear on Line 2 of character lcd."}
    ],
    "scroll":1
}

Check out this blog post for more details.

Logs

Open serial monitor from bottom Platform IO bar in VS Code to see logs.