Gravity: 1602 LCD Keypad Shield For Arduino

The Gravity: 1602 LCD Keypad Shield combines a 2x16 character display and five navigation buttons onto a single stackable board for Arduino Uno, Mega, and Leonardo. It provides a complete user interface without breadboard wiring, reading all directional inputs through a single analog pin. It is ideal for makers, students, and educators building interactive menus, data loggers, and robotic controllers.

Integrated display and keypad interface

This shield mounts a 16x2 character LCD and five momentary pushbuttons directly on top of your Arduino board. Consolidating the display and user controls into a single board eliminates messy breadboard wiring while preserving project space.

Single-pin analog button multiplexing

All five directional keys are read through an on-board resistor voltage divider on analog pin A0 using standard analogRead commands. This design significantly reduces pin consumption, keeping the remaining digital and analog pins available for sensors and actuators.

On-board contrast and backlight control

A built-in potentiometer allows quick screen contrast adjustments, alongside a dedicated reset button for rapid sketch debugging. Digital pin D10 controls the backlight, supporting PWM dimming to reduce power consumption in battery-powered setups.

Gravity sensor headers and wireless socket

Integrated 3-pin headers with standard colour-coded pinouts allow direct connection of Gravity analog sensors. The board also includes a dedicated serial socket compatible with APC220 radio and Bluetooth V3 communication modules.

Field monitoring and interactive menu design

Measuring 80 x 58 mm, this 5V shield is designed for standalone data logging stations, embedded UI testing, and manual robotics control. Recessed top LCD connections help prevent electrical shorts when mounting additional expansion hardware.

Video

Downloads & documentation

• Product wiki (DFRobot)