Nokia 3310 LCD

A Nokia 3310 LCD Screen is a graphical monochrome 84x84 pixel LCD screen, controlled by the Philips (NXP) PCD8544 IC. You can get them for very cheap. I picked a few up from eBay for about £3.00 each.

Click an image to enlarge

The displays are very easy to use. They are interfaced with the SPI bus at 3.3 volts. This means with a simple potential divider, you can control them from a PC parallel port. On this page, I will use the Velleman K8055. It is probably simpler to use a parallel port but my new box doesn't have one - such is progress!

= Connections = To interface the Nokia 3310 LCD to the Velleman K8055 requires some pull up resistors to compliment the open collector outputs. The diagram below shows how I set up the interfacing. The setup is pretty standard. I have used $$100K\Omega$$ resistors so that the pull ups draw less current. I am running the entire circuit from the K8055's DACs (with $$1.5K\Omega$$ source resistance). We need low current!



= Talking to the Display = As I got here, I had some problems with my computer which I have not yet resolved. This will be while now, as I will be busy.

= Faulty Display = The only Nokia 3310 LCD I had to play about with is faulty. I have tried extensively to get the display to work based on my own code to no avail. In a diagnostics attempt, I was unable to make the display function with a device known to drive this type of LCD. I therefore assume that the screen is faulty. When I get the chance to purchase another screen, I will do so.

= Sources =
 * Nokia 3310 LCD, 84x84 Pixels
 * http://www.amontec.com/lcd_nokia_3310.shtml


 * Philips (NXP) PCD8544 Datasheet
 * http://www.nxp.com/documents/data_sheet/PCD8544_1.pdf