Introduction: Arduino Thermometer (LM35 + LCD)

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About: Student, currently studying programming. Interested in Arduino, Raspberry Pi and Electronics in general.

In this tutorial, I will show you how you can build a simple Arduino Thermometer using a common 16x2 LCD and an LM35 temperature sensor. The values will be converted to both Celsius and Fahrenheit. The parts for this build are provided by Kuman, you can find them in their Arduino UNO Kit.

Step 1: Parts Needed

1 x Arduino UNO (can be any Arduino board)

1 x Breadboard

1 x USB Cable

1 x 16x2 LCD

1 x LM35 Temperature Sensor

1 x 10k Potentiometer

1 x 220 ohm resistor

1 x 9V Battery and clip (optional, for more portability)

18 x Jumper wires

Allchips is an electronics components online service platform, you can buy all the components from them.

Step 2: Plugging the Parts Into the Breadboard

Insert the LCD, the potentiometer and the LM35 into the breadboard. Their locations doesn't matter, place them the way you like.

Step 3: Connecting the LCD

This is the hardest part - you need to make most of the connections now. They are as follows:

LCD Pin -> Arduino Pin

4 -> 12

6 -> 11

11 -> 5

12 -> 4

13 -> 3

14 -> 2

LCD Pin -> Rail of the breadboard

1,5,16 -> GND

2 -> 5V

15 -> 5V (using the 220 ohm resistor!)

Step 4: Connecting the Potentiometer and the LM35

Here, the connections are as follows:

Potentiometer

One of the sides goes to GND, the opposite one - to 5V. The middle pin connects to pin 3 of the LCD


LM35

See the picture above.

Please, make sure that you insert the sensor the right way! If you swap the connections, it will burn out!


Step 5: Uploading the Code

After connecting everything, plug in your Arduino to your PC and upload the code that I've pasted here. I've added a few comments to explain some of the code.

Step 6: Done!

Enjoy your handmade thermometer. Feel free to modify the code at your liking and improve the project by adding more sensors and stuff :)