Building a Smart Home Control Panel with Nextion Displays in 2025

Transform your home into a smart living space with a custom Nextion touchscreen control panel. Unlike commercial smart home hubs, a DIY solution gives you complete control over your data, unlimited customization options, and zero subscription fees. This comprehensive guide walks you through building a professional-grade smart home dashboard.

Why Nextion for Smart Home Control?

Nextion displays offer significant advantages for smart home applications compared to generic LCDs or web-based dashboards:

Hardware Components Required

Designing the Smart Home Interface

A well-designed smart home interface should provide:

• Dashboard page - Overview of all systems with quick toggles
• Climate control - Temperature, humidity, HVAC scheduling
• Lighting control - Room-by-room dimming and color control
• Security page - Alarm status, camera feeds, door locks
• Energy monitoring - Real-time consumption graphs

Arduino Integration Code

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>

// Nextion display on Serial2 (or SoftwareSerial)
#define NEXTION_RX 16
#define NEXTION_TX 17

// Relay pins
const int RELAY_LIGHTS = 4;
const int RELAY_FAN = 5;
const int RELAY_HVAC = 6;

// Sensor pins
const int TEMP_SENSOR = A0;
const int MOTION_PIR = 7;

void setup() {
 Serial.begin(115200);
 Serial2.begin(9600); // Nextion default baud
 
 pinMode(RELAY_LIGHTS, OUTPUT);
 pinMode(RELAY_FAN, OUTPUT);
 pinMode(RELAY_HVAC, OUTPUT);
 pinMode(MOTION_PIR, INPUT);
 
 // Initialize display
 sendCommand("page 0");
 updateDashboard();
}

void loop() {
 // Handle Nextion touch events
 if (Serial2.available()) {
 String cmd = Serial2.readStringUntil('
');
 processCommand(cmd);
 }
 
 // Update sensors every 2 seconds
 static unsigned long lastUpdate = 0;
 if (millis() - lastUpdate > 2000) {
 updateSensors();
 lastUpdate = millis();
 }
 
 // Check motion for auto-lights
 checkMotionSensor();
}

void sendCommand(String cmd) {
 Serial2.print(cmd);
 Serial2.write(0xFF);
 Serial2.write(0xFF);
 Serial2.write(0xFF);
}

void processCommand(String cmd) {
 if (cmd.startsWith("lights=")) {
 int state = cmd.substring(7).toInt();
 digitalWrite(RELAY_LIGHTS, state);
 sendCommand("lights.val=" + String(state));
 }
 else if (cmd.startsWith("fan=")) {
 int state = cmd.substring(4).toInt();
 digitalWrite(RELAY_FAN, state);
 }
 else if (cmd.startsWith("hvac=")) {
 int mode = cmd.substring(5).toInt();
 setHVACMode(mode);
 }
}

void updateSensors() {
 float temp = readTemperature();
 int humidity = readHumidity();
 
 sendCommand("temp.txt="" + String(temp, 1) + "°C"");
 sendCommand("humidity.txt="" + String(humidity) + "%"");
}

Home Automation Integration

Connect your Nextion panel to popular smart home ecosystems:

Conclusion

A Nextion-based smart home control panel offers the perfect balance of professional appearance, responsive touch control, and DIY flexibility. Start with basic lighting control, then expand to climate, security, and energy monitoring as your system grows.

Ready to build your smart home dashboard? Browse our selection of Nextion displays and smart home components at Robotics3D.