Grove 16x2 LCD Family (AIP31068L)
16x2 character LCDs on Grove: the RGB Backlight board (a script can set the backlight to any colour) and the fixed-colour white-on-blue, black-on-yellow and black-on-red boards. Two rows of sixteen characters.
Say it to PAL
“Show two lines of text on the screen.”
The code PAL writes
p.write('grove-lcd-16x2', 'text', { text: 'Hello\nfrom Palpable' });
await p.waitUntilStopped();“Show the temperature on the screen.”
The code PAL writes
p.onSensorChange('qwiic-tmp117', 'temperature', (val) => {
p.write('grove-lcd-16x2', 'text', { text: 'Temp ' + val.toFixed(1) + '°C' });
});
await p.waitUntilStopped();When to pick it
Best when you want a couple of lines of text readable without a pixel display — and, on the RGB Backlight board, an at-a-glance colour signal.
Good to know
- 16 characters per row, 2 rows. Plan messages to fit; long lines wrap to row 2 and anything beyond is dropped.
- Plain ASCII only (plus °). Accented letters, emoji and other scripts show as blanks.
- On the RGB Backlight board the text controller (AIP31068L) is specified for 4.5–5.5 V. On a 3.3 V Grove port the panel may stay blank; use a 5 V port.
About it
Every board in this family puts its text controller at 0x3E and speaks the same protocol, so they are one module. The RGB Backlight board adds a SECOND chip for the backlight: a PCA9632/PCA9633 at 0x62 on v1.0–v4.0, an SGM31323 at 0x30 on v5.0. The bridge detects which one is fitted before the first colour and refuses setColor when neither is identified — which is also what a fixed-colour board answers. The RGB board's text controller is specified for 5 V; the fixed-colour boards are sold for 3.3 V and 5 V.
Where to buy
Facts
Tested
It is in our catalog, but nobody has checked it on a real board. It may not work yet. Its driver is written, but it has not been tested on hardware yet.
I2C address
The Grove 16x2 LCD Family (AIP31068L) answers at I2C address 0x3E. Whether the address can be changed is not recorded in this catalog.
Supply
4.5–5.5 V
The 16x2 LCD runs on 4.5 to 5.5 V.
Free to reuse
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This record was last changed on October 9, 2026.