RGB LCD Shield for Arduino 65K Color KIT

Great price. Got it the next day after ordering. Easily found the directions on line, but it was not clear which version I had. There are two versions; Amazon shipped me the newer one. The two versions differ physically: The old design has a "daughter board" which looks like it would take a few more minutes to assemble. The newer version has all the parts on one board. All the parts are clearly new and in perfect condition, not "some left over mishandled parts" as conjectured in another review. It went together easily, but I have a very good soldering station with a very pointed tip. Be aware the parts are small, as are most modern electronic components, and assembly challenged my 60-year-old eyes. The first step is to solder the LCD to the board using a tiny "adapter board". It was actually easier than I thought, but I did have to take it off and resolder it because I had created a solder bridge across two of the connections. If I built another one, it would not be a problem to get it right the first time; I just wasn't used to soldering such small parts. Now I'm back in practice! It's a very simple circuit -- not much to get wrong. Once I resoldered the LCD module, I downloaded the software library and the associated demo, and it came right up. The voltage on the backlight is a little low, so the brightness of the display is only acceptable, not bright. One could easily rig a separate power source for the backlight if you want it brighter. The colors are somewhat muted, but still clear, and resolution is fantastic. Speed of updating the display depends on how many pixels need to change. It takes a big fraction of a second to erase the full screen, but animating small objects is very fast.

I would consider myself fairly competent at soldering, but getting the LCD mounted onto the board was almost impossible. The little piece of circuit board is insufficient a a bridge, and one slip and the board is useless.

After putting the shield together per the instructions on the web site. Unfortunately it just doesn't work. The LCD just turns on with a blue color. The LCD will not respond to any programming. After visiting their site, apparently I'm not the only individual in the same dilemma. I suspect someone got a good deal on some mishandled old cell phone LCD's. Haven't been able to get a response from the company through email. Sadly though I was looking forward to using this LCD on a project.

This is a nice kit, very fun to put it together, although I still have some difficulties with it (backlight is not working).I read many comments on the soldering issue, but I didn't find it hard at all. Use a small tip, for example:  Long Conical Tip, 1/64"  ,just make sure you get the right one for your iron.I would give it 5 stars but there is a problem:The kit came in missing a 110 ohm resistor. Not a big deal for me, I had a 120 ohm laying around and used it, but for some people this can result in a trip to the nearest eletronic part shop. Not acceptable at all. A kit must come in complete, no excuses.

THE DISPLAY SHIELD ITSELFThis display is small (about 1 1/4" square) and bright enough, though not exceptionally bright. It is dimmer than most LCD computer displays. Colors are good. The viewing angle could be wider. But the display shield is inexpensive and has a good library to support its use with Arduino.The biggest barrier for most folks is that it is a kit, and definitely not one for beginners, but I was successful the first try, and have suggestions on how you can make it work the first time, too.A shield is an add-on PC board that has pins in standardized locations to fit perfectly on most models of Arduino microcontrollers. This is very convenient because you can attach or remove it quickly to do other things with your Arduino.The unit seems well designed. The voltage regulator does not get very warm during the use of the display. Aside from physical damage, this display should work for some time. I will update this review if any of my opinions ever change.BUILDING THE DISPLAY SHIELD KITI read the reviews carefully before deciding to give this display board a try. I agree with many of the reviewers that soldering the display to the shield's PC board is tricky and requires skill and proper equipment for soldering. In my opinion, the maker should supply the board with the display already attached, because attaching it amounts to mastering surface-mount technology which is made more difficult by having the surfaces not actually in contact with each other.However, if you think you have good solder skills and have a good variable heat, regulated soldering iron, a tip-cleaning sponge and preferably a finer tip than the one that came with the iron, you can probably do this. Mine worked the very first time, but this is important: the way to get it right the first time is to TEST AS YOU BUILD.MORE SUGGESTIONS FOR BUILDING THE KITI have a lot of specific suggestions, including a simple modification that provides access to the data pins, and a testing technique not listed in the instructions that will ensure the display is soldered on correctly, in my blog at colan-arduino dot blogspot dot com. The blog also gives a link to the build instructions, which I strongly encourage you to read carefully before building and as you go along.SOFTWARE SUPPORT AND FINAL TESTINGThere is a library available to use this LCD with Arduino. You can find it by searching for "RGB LCD Shield new library" without quotes. At time of writing, the library requires a minor fix to correct the Arduino header in two files. Again, the details are in my blog.The library comes with a few sample applications. I used GLCD_Demo, a program that puts the library and display through its paces, to test the completed shield. The library comes with a PDF file that describes the API, which is straightforward to use.BOTTOM LINEThe price/performance of this display is excellent, however the difficulty in building requires taking off a star. If the maker sold the kit with the display attached so that only through-hole solder was left for the buyer, I would give it five stars. Of course, it would probably have to be more expensive with that partial assembly complete.

This is a very nice display. The instructions (downloaded from the mcukits.com website) were very clear and the display shield went together easily. I do have a lot of soldering experience. The trickiest part of the assembly is soldering the adapter board to the LCD and the adapter board to the shield as the contacts are closely spaced. There should be no problem if you use a fine tip soldering iron, don't apply too much solder and inspect the work carefully. I use a very basic variable 40w soldering iron  Weller WLC100 Soldering Station for Hobbyist and Do-It-Yourselfer  set to 4/5 full scale. I use an small loupe to check for solder bridges on fine pitch soldering work & have no problems. The downloaded demo programs (from the links provided in the assembly instructions) work fine the first time with no glitches. I plan to buy a few more of these displays as they look very nice.