Should I be concerned about LCD burnout?

Hardware
1

I’ve got a newhaven lcd display (https://www.onlinecomponents.com/datasheet/nhd0208azflybw.aspx?p=37682425) that I’m using the LiquidCrystal library with, and I’m wondering how concerned I should be about the display burning out or going bad for some reason after being on for a long time. The application I’m going to be using the display for would pretty much have it turned on 24/7 if I don’t put some measures in place to put it into a sleep mode or something until someone interacts with it.

Does having the backlight contrast tied to something slightly higher than 0V affect anything? (right now I’ve just got it tied to ground but could tie it to a potentiometer instead). Is there a way to turn the display completely off until I give it some sort of wake up command?

Here is my current pin configuration:

  • LCD RS (4) pin to photon pin D0
  • LCD EN (6) pin to photon pin A1
  • LCD D4 (11) pin to photon pin D2
  • LCD D5 (12) pin to photon pin D4
  • LCD D6 (13) pin to photon pin A2
  • LCD D7 (14) pin to photon pin A3
  • LCD VO (3) to GND
  • connect R/W (5) to ground

plus the VDD pins to 5V.

I’m programming this on a Photon, using the Vin pin as 5V power for the display and a usb from a wall to power the photon.

I’ve got the display working just fine, just wondering if anyone knows precautions that I should be taking to extend the lifetime of this display as long as possible, or if I just have nothing to worry about. Thanks!

2

You could drive the LED backlight from a pin that is PWM capable and within you code have a timer to dim the backlight after a period of time with no user activity (button presses). This will likely help with the life of the LEDs. You then need a button press (or some other event) to re-light the screen. The LED backlight requires 100mA maximum (and is likely to be the main use of power in the display) so direct drive from the Photon pin is OK. Putting your display controller into sleep mode (I didn’t read the specification in detail) might make sense if the display is not required until woken - but then you are powering it from a wall USB adaptor so low power doesn’t sound like it is necessary. Hope that helps.

3

It’s a led backlight. So there is nothing to be concerned about here. However, you can extend the life longer by doing what @armor suggested, but with a small twist. USE PWM, but just leave the brightness up if you cannot make use of an extra button to “wake” it. Even running with PWM the led will not be on all the time, but to your eye it will look like it is.