0

I'm looking for an low cost LCD I can use that can still operate even if they it's exposed by -30°C.

Normally, the 1602 LCDs have a minimum operation limit at 0°C. So I cannot use that ... or can I?

enter image description here enter image description here enter image description here enter image description here

Transistor
  • 168,990
  • 12
  • 186
  • 385
euraad
  • 1,025
  • 11
  • 30
  • Celsius or Fahrenheit? – Math Keeps Me Busy Feb 10 '21 at 22:24
  • 2
    @MathKeepsMeBusy I'd love to argue that this is an engineering platform and thus, we use metric units instead of freedom units™ – Marcus Müller Feb 10 '21 at 22:25
  • @MathKeepsMeBusy It's quite obvious that I'm using Celsius :) – euraad Feb 10 '21 at 22:25
  • can you specify what LCD you're looking for? 16x2 LCD is a little bit different from Macbook Retina LCD – Ilya Feb 10 '21 at 22:29
  • 1
    Are you basically asking what to buy? – Justme Feb 10 '21 at 22:29
  • @Justme Yes. I want to buy an low cost LCD that can easy work with microcontrollers such as Arduino or STM32. – euraad Feb 10 '21 at 22:30
  • In some of their products, Tektronix used an ITO heater to extend the operational temperature range. – Kartman Feb 10 '21 at 22:30
  • @Ilya A simple LCD that can hold against -30 degrees and still work. Sure, that's OK if it's slow. But it need to still work. – euraad Feb 10 '21 at 22:31
  • 1
    @DanielMårtensson you didn't reply to my question. What kind of LCD? How many pixels? How many colors? How big? What is it supposed to be able to show? "Simple LCD" doesn't exist as a thing. My PC monitor is a simple LCD too. – Ilya Feb 10 '21 at 22:31
  • Have a look at these: https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk00IUv9AVswfmWhZU3NTyA8QkqmD5g:1612996220958&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=mechanical+display&client=firefox-b-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwikwJiWr-DuAhW7EWMBHQhVCC4QjJkEegQIARAB&biw=1920&bih=966 – Ilya Feb 10 '21 at 22:31
  • @Ilya I just take any low cost LCD. As long at it works at -30. – euraad Feb 10 '21 at 22:31
  • 1
    There are no "any low cost LCDs", is it a 7-segment or a full-scale color picture? or monochrome picture? They're all LCD and they are as different as potato and car. And both work with Arduino. – Ilya Feb 10 '21 at 22:32
  • Post a picture of LCD you're looking for (what it looks like), so we can suggest something similar – Ilya Feb 10 '21 at 22:33
  • @Ilya Done...... – euraad Feb 10 '21 at 22:36
  • _"...that can easy work with microcontrollers such as Arduino or STM32."_ - you might have more than just the LCD to worry about at -30ºC. https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/90385/using-an-arduino-in-below-freezing-temperatures – Bruce Abbott Feb 11 '21 at 00:12

2 Answers2

2

A number of your photos are of OLED displays, which do not have the low temperature problem. For example this Vishay display specifies -40° operation.

Generally wide temperature range LCDs (such as for automotive applications) use a different liquid crystal formulation that requires a negative bias voltage. And they still may be quite pokey at very low temperatures.

So you may be better off with an OLED display if the disadvantages of that kind of display are not deal killers (such as aging and burn-in).

Spehro Pefhany
  • 376,485
  • 21
  • 320
  • 842
  • So you think that ILI9341 (Red LCD with touch) works at -30 ? – euraad Feb 10 '21 at 23:03
  • @DanielMårtensson if the datasheet says it works between -40 and +80, try to guess if it's supposed to work at -30... – Ilya Feb 10 '21 at 23:05
  • 1
    The backlight will work. The Ilitek ILI9341 *chip* will work. The LCD, probably not unless you have a datasheet that says it does. – Spehro Pefhany Feb 10 '21 at 23:08
-1

Since you're considering 16x2 display, you can opt for mechanical displays for that purpose. They function in a similar fashion, but obviously care less about environment. Of course, check out the spec of the one you wanna get. And they, I'm sure, have higher display latency, no CS:GO on these puppies: enter image description hereenter image description here

The last picture is from the video of GreatScott! (whose channel I highly recommend, although I bumped into this picture by accident now): VIDEO

Decided to add on how to drive those better: instead of driving them using 2 million GPIO pins, I suggest you use "I2C GPIO expander" (available on all sorts of mousers). An I2C chip with many GPIO pins, so you can just send I2C command and control a huge array of GPIO pins connected to the display segments themselves.

Ilya
  • 3,478
  • 7
  • 33
  • Is't it better to use 7-segment LED displays instead of mechanical displays??? I need to write out text too :) By the way! I found that ILI9341 LCD can stand against -40 according to the datasheet. Is that true? – euraad Feb 10 '21 at 22:45
  • 2
    @DanielMårtensson that is EXACTY why I was asking you what kind of display you need. How was I to know you want to write text? Btw you can still write text on these, just consider the length. Aaand yes, that LCD of yours looks legit (looked at the datasheet), but -40 sounds a little too close to -30. I'd go for -50 rating just in case. Tolerance and all. And who knows, what if outside temp drops just a little too low. Better safe than sorry – Ilya Feb 10 '21 at 22:48
  • I wrote "LCD". Liquid crystal display. But is it true that ILI9341 LCD can operate at -30, if the datasheet says -40? I'm quite skeptical. – euraad Feb 10 '21 at 22:52
  • Some quick low temp LCD googling didn't reveal any LCDs with lowest spec beyond -50, they're all -40. You can try at least – Ilya Feb 10 '21 at 22:52
  • 1
    @DanielMårtensson writing "LCD" is like writing "car". 1980 Volkswagen and 2020 Ferrari are both cars. The displays you provided in pictures have nothing in common with one another, they display stuff differently, they look differently, they use different interfaces, they only have "LCD" technology used. Anyway, the datasheet says it goes down to -40, so it's supposed to work at -30. I found many other displays with -40 rating; Here's the link, there are a few mentioned: https://www.digikey.de/en/articles/selecting-lcd-modules-for-extreme-temperatures – Ilya Feb 10 '21 at 22:55
  • Have you tried to operate an LCD when it's very cold? – euraad Feb 10 '21 at 23:00
  • no, and 99% of the people didn't. But you take the spec sheet, you see it says -40...+80, you apply all your mathematical skills to understand that -30 is between -40 and +80 and it should work, so you buy 2 or 3 displays (they cost like 10 bucks per kilogram) and try them out. That's how you do it with anything you do for the first time, and every project always has something new anyway, nothing to be afraid of. You have all the info – Ilya Feb 11 '21 at 21:02