LCD Display Modules From EBay - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Mike Warren
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 24, 2013, 11:01:51 pm
content: I notice there are some really cheap 16x2 LCD displays at various Chinese eBay sellers. Some less than $2.50. Anyone tried them? Are they a waste of time? From the pictures, they don't look any worse made than the ones being sold by the mainstream electronics suppliers.Here is one of the many examples:http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-Character-LCD-Module-Display-LCM-1602-16X2-HD44780-Blue-Blacklight-/280776533662?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item415f95e69e

author: Balaur
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 24, 2013, 11:09:14 pm
content: I've bought some orange and blue ones back in 2010. Still work quite OK.Not the cheapest though. Mine were $3.85.Best regards

author: digsys
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 24, 2013, 11:23:12 pm
content: Well, I have a different experience. Bought some quite expensive 4x40s (~$35ea) and they've all failed over a few months.I'd be looking for user comments first, before I ever do that again.

author: ftransform
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2013, 11:30:00 pm
content: the voltage booster on these things will introduce some noise into your circuit, take care to decouple them.

author: mrflibble
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2013, 11:36:10 pm
content: I have several just like those from different ebay sellers, and so far no big problems. About the only issue I had is that I could not get it to work reliably with using open drain. Since I only use one data direction (don't read status from the LCD) I opted for a push-pull output to the LCD and then things were just dandy.

author: BillyD
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2013, 11:40:46 pm
content: I've bought a couple of cheapo ones like that, just for messing around with. Haven't had any fails so far although neither have I given them much of a punishing.The viewing angle isn't great, there is a lot of ghosting, and it's hard to find the ideal contrast, so I guess you get what you pay for.And what the hell is it with all these white-on-blue displays everywhere these days? Black characters on a light background are so much easier to see and aren't so dependent on backlighting. Must be cheaper to manufacture or something.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2013, 11:43:52 pm
content: Quote from: digsys on March 24, 2013, 11:23:12 pmWhat?!You can get 4x40 displays for around 22$ on Digikey... even newhaven themselves sell them at around that price retail... volume price is surely even smaller:http://www.newhavendisplay.com/lcd-character-4-x-40-characters-c-2_88.htmlAnd you could also contact Midas and get some prices for those 4x40 ... Farnell sells them but their prices are a bit high :http://www.midasdisplays.com/products/40-character-6.pageAnyway.. my 2 cents .. i don't trust these from eBay, I think they're "grade B" displays, that don't pass some tests about lcd screen quality or power consumption or stuff like that...Especially if you buy in volume, you can get such displays cheap from manufacturers, or you can take advantage of sales.. like newhaven has now displays from 2$ and up :http://www.newhavendisplay.com/special-offers-c-135.html

author: mrflibble
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2013, 12:36:19 am
content: Quote from: mariush on March 24, 2013, 11:43:52 pmWhat? They have a Quality Control passed sticker on it, so surely they must be fine.I always love those QC stickers, purely for comic value. XDBut with those ebay things it is a you get what you pay for matter. At $2.something I find those acceptable for hobby use. It allows me to plonk in a nice LCD where otherwise I wouldn't because the price used to be prohibitive.

author: Mike Warren
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 25, 2013, 01:55:50 am
content: Quote from: mrflibble on March 25, 2013, 12:36:19 amWell, it is written down, so it must be true.Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I'll grab a few.

author: MikeK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2013, 02:02:03 am
content: The ones I've bought from eBay have poor update rate:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/lcd-speed/msg143314/

author: ChrisGreece52
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 26, 2013, 05:47:02 pm
content: Got 2 from China for only 5 bucks both and they even have back lighting so go for it.

author: marshallh
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 26, 2013, 07:28:44 pm
content: Buy one and populate all the bypass capacitors on it. It will be much more reliable.

author: Gall
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2013, 04:27:05 pm
content: I had good experience with yellow and white ones and back experience with blue ones. The blue backlight was used with LCD not originally made for blue, so the text was almost unreadable with backlight on (blue on blue). I replaced the backlight LED with white and it still works fine.