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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?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Celsius or Fahrenheit? \$\endgroup\$
    – Math Keeps Me Busy
    Feb 10, 2021 at 22:24
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    \$\begingroup\$ @MathKeepsMeBusy I'd love to argue that this is an engineering platform and thus, we use metric units instead of freedom units™ \$\endgroup\$
    – Marcus Müller
    Feb 10, 2021 at 22:25
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    \$\begingroup\$ Are you basically asking what to buy? \$\endgroup\$
    – Justme
    Feb 10, 2021 at 22:29
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    \$\begingroup\$ @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. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ilya
    Feb 10, 2021 at 22:31
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    \$\begingroup\$ 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. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ilya
    Feb 10, 2021 at 22:32

2 Answers 2

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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).

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  • \$\begingroup\$ So you think that ILI9341 (Red LCD with touch) works at -30 ? \$\endgroup\$
    – euraad
    Feb 10, 2021 at 23:03
  • \$\begingroup\$ @DanielMårtensson if the datasheet says it works between -40 and +80, try to guess if it's supposed to work at -30... \$\endgroup\$
    – Ilya
    Feb 10, 2021 at 23:05
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    \$\begingroup\$ The backlight will work. The Ilitek ILI9341 chip will work. The LCD, probably not unless you have a datasheet that says it does. \$\endgroup\$
    – Spehro Pefhany
    Feb 10, 2021 at 23:08
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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.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ 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? \$\endgroup\$
    – euraad
    Feb 10, 2021 at 22:45
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    \$\begingroup\$ @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 \$\endgroup\$
    – Ilya
    Feb 10, 2021 at 22:48
  • \$\begingroup\$ 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. \$\endgroup\$
    – euraad
    Feb 10, 2021 at 22:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ 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 \$\endgroup\$
    – Ilya
    Feb 10, 2021 at 22:52
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    \$\begingroup\$ @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: digikey.de/en/articles/… \$\endgroup\$
    – Ilya
    Feb 10, 2021 at 22:55

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