Looking for a HD44780 40x4 LCD alternative

[Swake]

Hello to all,

Need to include some screen in an Arduino based project where long time (10+ years) availability of spare parts is a requirement.
An HD44780 compatible LCD comes to mind as these things are available since a very long time and will not disappear before long. Also these are very well supported and do not need much coding.

Are there any 'more modern' alternatives guaranteed to be available for a long long time?

We would need the equivalent of 40x4 character real estate.
Reduced power consumption, or the possibility to switch off the backlight is an advantage.

[mariush]

I think one option would be to simply buy something that uses i2c or SPI.
Worst case scenario, if you won't be able to source your display after a few years, you could just program a tiny microcontroller as an inbetween your arduino and the new lcd display, to "translate" the commands the old lcd display required to the commands the new lcd display expects.

Actually, even with the 4bit/8bit parallel 40x4 numeric displays, you could just put a tiny microcontroller between it and your arduino, which would translate the commands received through i2c or spi, into the lcd display commands. A pic12f or pic16f with 10-16 pins is less than 1$ in quantity.

[Kjelt]

Or ttl-rs232 only one pin and every microcontroller has this peripheral, so future proof interface. some companies have made their products based on this like matrix orbital but they use standard rs232 which i would not recommend.

[danadak]

The best way to do this is to contact specific vendor marketing and ask
for part recommendations. It does not always work as vendors do not
have complete control over their base parts suppliers, but its better
than guessing.

You can do this by contacting manufacturers rep, the vendor regional sales office,
and sometimes the FAE can direct you to the right person.



Regards, Dana.

[ebclr]

Believe or not

HD44780 40x4 LCD is highly probable to be available in next 10 years, at least they are strong on the last 30 years.

[danadak]

The concern is not just the controller availability but also the module,
eg. the glass configuration as well.

Note the Samsung KS0066 appears to also be compatible with 44780.
Used by several Asian and Taiwanese LCD module manufacturers.


Regards, Dana.

[Kjelt]

You can never have guarantees over such a period.
If a manufacturer goes bankrupt or if a manufacturer has other priorities than building the components or keeping large enough inventory you have a problem.
IMO the best you can do is pick a standard component that can be sourced from multiple manufacturers and ask them the specific product planning.
Than still stock up small to medium fifo inventory during this period so your own manufacturing process is independent of their inventories.

[ebclr]

This kind of display is made by many companies if one goes bankrupt, another fill the order, same for the chip and glasses involved, this is a mainstream product for decades, and no other display is more probable to be available in future other than this kind. Still, the cheapest and easiest way to have an  alphanumeric display, 

[alank2]

I thought you said 20x4 at first, these are very common, even the platform size if very common.  Best you can do is try to find multiple sources that would both work and hope they keep making it.

Something interesting is that buydisplay.com promises to make something available for 10 years (from 2015 they say).  You don't often see companies making a claim like that.  I can't say anything about their quality as I don't know, but I find it interesting.

http://www.buydisplay.com/default/character-display/40x4-character