First time, following directions, nothing happens when power

[JeffRSmall]

Here's a photo of my setup. First time poster, first time Arduino, first time pretty much everything. I walked through the directions, matched up the pins in mine (it's the back lit RGB) with the ones in the tutorial and I just can't SEE anything that's different. Am I doing something wrong? Shouldn't it at LEAST light up when power is applied?

http://imgur.com/a/oGmre

[Franklin97355]

Try taking pins 16, 17, or 18 to ground and the backlight should light. If not check your power on pin 15 (+5v) Also make sure your solder has flowed on the pin and the pad for a good connection.

[JeffRSmall]

Okay, so this is great. Help me troubleshoot what's going on here. I take pin 16 to ground on the breadboard from PWM 3 and the backlit works. I plug that BACK into PWM 3 and it turns off.

I'll admit, I was nervous about my soldering job, it's the first time I've soldered something in years and years, but the joints LOOKED good when I compared them to examples online.

When pin 16 goes to ground, I get a pink backlight on. What should I look for next?

[Franklin97355]

Pins 16, 17, and 18 are the three RGB leds so if you take them to ground you should get red, green, and blue lights. Since these are being controlled by pins on the Uno they won't work unless you are running a program on the Uno. this should be helpful https://learn.adafruit.com/character-lcds and here is an explanation of the pins https://www.adafruit.com/datasheets/rgb ... nsions.gif

[JeffRSmall]

Wow. Okay, so I was TOTALLY thinking it would at least light up like the character LCD tutorial, but I guess I was getting completely confused by the fact that mine was backlit and the jump from the fourth lesson (Wiring a Character LCD) to the sixth lesson (RGB Backlit LCDs) was a little too much and I got lost somehow.

I uploaded the sketch from the backlit LCD page and damn if it didn't work. Thanks so much! I think I was expecting *something* when I applied power and I didn't get anything so I kinda freaked.

I will say however, that when I crank the contrast all the way, I still get two thin lines that don't seem to fully darken. Kinda weird, but hey, I can read it! If I were going to use this for something that someone would see, I think that would bug me a little. Could that be a result of a bad solder you think?

[Franklin97355]

Could that be a result of a bad solder you think?

I wouldn't take any bets. Look this Soldering Guide over for some info on proper joints.