Using the Firewing DOGM LCD with Arduino is really easy. The following code has been tested on the Arduino UNO R3 board. If using a 2 x 16 display, you need to ensure you use the following line:

lcd.begin(16,2);     

If using a 3 x 16 display, you need to ensure you use the following line:

lcd.begin(16,3);     

If using a 3 x 16 display for the first time, you will need to modify the Arduino LCD library a little to support a 3 x 16 display. Again, it's very easy to do this and full instructions can be found here. Now just plug in the LCD Plus Shield into your Arduino UNO and program in the following code:

Arduino Code

#include <LiquidCrystal.h>

// Connections:
// rs (LCD pin 4) to Arduino pin 8
// rw (LCD pin 5) to Arduino pin 9
// LCD pins d4, d5, d6, d7 to Arduino pins 4, 5, 6, 7
LiquidCrystal lcd(8, 9, 4, 5, 6, 7);

void setup()
{
  int backLight = 3;            // pin 13 will control the backlight 
  pinMode(backLight, OUTPUT);   // make it an output
  analogWrite(backLight, 50);   // set the baklight value

  // DOG-M - this is required to initialise the
  // LCD on the Firewing LCD+ shield...
  lcd.command(0x29);      // 4 bit interface
  lcd.command(0x1C);      // bias set 
  lcd.command(0x52);      // power control
  lcd.command(0x69);      // follower control
  lcd.command(0x74);      // set contrast
  lcd.command(0x38);      // function set
  // END DOG-M 

  // lcd.begin(16,3);        // columns, rows.  use 16,3 for a 16x3 LCD
  lcd.begin(16,2);           // columns, rows.  use 16,2 for a 16x2 LCD
  lcd.clear();                  
  lcd.setCursor(0,0);           
  lcd.print("Firewing");   
  lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
  lcd.print("elapsed : ");

  // some extra data for 3 line LCD...
  // lcd.setCursor(0,2);           // set cursor to column 0, row 0 (the first row) 
  // lcd.print("3 line LCD!");     // change this text to whatever you like. keep it clean.
}

// main program loop...
void loop()
{
  lcd.setCursor(10, 1);
  lcd.print(millis()/1000);
}