Installing Nexomatic Pro8 in a 2BHK — Setup Guide for Indian Homes

If you've ordered (or are thinking of ordering) a SmartHome Pro8 for a typical 2BHK apartment, this guide walks through everything from channel planning to scene-tested smart home — start to finish — in under 3 hours of installer time.

It is written for two readers at the same time: the homeowner who wants to know what they're signing up for, and the electrician who needs to know what's different from a regular switchboard install. We've kept it practical and India-specific (TNEB voltage, common appliances, 1.5 sq mm wiring conventions).

Before you start: who installs this?

You should not install Pro8 yourself. This is a 230 V AC device wired in series with your home's lighting and appliance loads. The exact same competence required to replace a conventional modular switchboard is required here — and the cost should be the same (₹500–₹1,500 for the labour in most Indian cities). Any certified electrician can do it; we don't require Nexomatic-trained installers.

If you bought a Pro8 from us, our team can dispatch a partner electrician at no extra labour cost for the first install. Otherwise, your regular electrician is fine — give them this page.

1. Plan your channels before unboxing

The Pro8 has 8 controllable channels, each rated 10A continuous (2300 W at 230 V). One Pro8 typically covers one room — sometimes two adjacent small rooms if you stub the wiring through the wall.

For a standard Indian 2BHK (1 hall, 2 bedrooms, 1 kitchen, 1-2 bathrooms), here's the typical channel allocation we see in the field:

Hall / Living Room (1× Pro8)

Each Bedroom (1× Pro8 each)

Kitchen + bathrooms

Most 2BHKs don't need a full Pro8 in the kitchen — a SmartPanel Pro4 (4-channel) covers the typical kitchen exhaust + light + plug + chimney. Bathrooms often share a single channel with the bedroom geyser. If your kitchen has a chimney + a separate microwave outlet that you want smart, then a Pro4 makes sense; otherwise the bedroom Pro8 already has spare channels to spare.

Total for a typical 2BHK: 3× Pro8 + (optional) 1× Pro4. That's 24–28 smart channels, more than enough headroom for future appliances.

2. Parts checklist

Things you (or your installer) need on hand before the first day:

If your home is older than 2010 and you haven't upgraded the wiring, ask the electrician to verify earthing continuity at every switchboard before installing. Pro8's optical feedback expects a properly earthed neutral.

3. The install (per Pro8, ~45 min)

Step 1 — Cut the mains

Turn off the main MCB at the meter board — not just the room MCB. The neutral bus inside a switchboard often carries voltage from another circuit, and Pro8 has exposed terminals during install. Use a tester pen on every wire before touching it.

Step 2 — Remove the old switchboard

Unscrew the front plate, disconnect the existing modular switches, and label every wire with masking tape: L (live in), N (neutral), and one tag per outgoing load (Light-A, Fan-1, AC, etc.). Take a photo of the original wiring before you start — it saves time later when something doesn't add up.

Step 3 — Mount the Pro8

Pro8's mounting plate uses the same screw pattern as a 12-module modular plate. Slide it into the deep box, tighten the side screws, then plug the Pro8 controller onto the plate. The controller draws its own power from L + N; you don't need a separate adapter.

Step 4 — Land the wires

Each channel has 2 screw terminals (load + neutral). Wire one outgoing load per channel, matching your channel plan from Step 1. Common Indian conventions:

• Live wires (red / brown / black) → load terminal
• Neutral wires (black / blue) → neutral terminal
• Earth (green / yellow-green) → bus bar inside the deep box (Pro8 doesn't switch earth)

For the AC channel, use the 2.5 sq mm wire and confirm the upstream MCB is 20A, not 6A. A 1.5 sq mm wire on a 1500 W AC at startup will warm noticeably; on a hot Coimbatore afternoon, it can trip the MCB nuisance-style.

Step 5 — Power on + status check

Turn the mains back on. Pro8's status LED on the front edge should light solid blue for 30 seconds (boot), then start a slow lime-green pulse indicating "ready to pair, not yet connected to WiFi". If you see solid red or fast amber blinking, see the troubleshooting table at the bottom.

4. Pair to the Nexomatic app (10 min)

1. Open the Nexomatic app → Add device → Smart Switch (Pro8 / Pro4 / Pro2 / Lite)
2. The app discovers any Pro8 in pairing mode on your local network — pick yours from the list (each shows its MAC suffix, e.g., Pro8-44B8C)
3. Enter your 2.4 GHz WiFi SSID + password — the app forwards it to Pro8 over a temporary BLE handshake
4. Pro8's LED switches to solid lime-green — it's online and registered
5. Drag-and-drop name each channel: Hall Light, Hall Fan, AC, TV Plug, etc.
6. Assign each channel a device type — Bulb, Fan, Plug, Geyser, AC, etc. This unlocks the right control UI (e.g., fan gets a 5-speed slider; AC gets a setpoint).

Repeat for the other two Pro8s. Total time for all three: ~25 minutes.

Tip: name rooms first, then assign devices to rooms. The room hierarchy is what powers your scenes and energy reports — without it, every device sits in "Unassigned" and the dashboard looks empty.

5. Set up your first scene

Scenes are the moment Pro8 stops being "a smart switch" and starts being a smart home. Set up these three first:

Goodnight (one-tap before bed)

• All hall lights → OFF
• All bedroom lights → OFF
• Hall AC → OFF
• Bedroom AC → ON, 26 °C
• Bedside lamp → ON, 30% brightness

In the app: Scenes → New Scene → "Goodnight" → pick devices, set states, save. Assign to the Quick Scenes strip on the dashboard. Now any household member can hit it from the lock screen widget.

Wake Up (5-minute gradual lights)

• Bedroom main light → 10% → ramp to 100% over 5 min
• Hall light → ON
• Geyser → ON

This needs the Pro8 to dimm — works on LED bulbs marked "dimmable". Non-dimmable LEDs will flicker; check before buying.

All Off (panic button)

• Every device in the house → OFF, except refrigerator and security circuit

Useful when leaving for a holiday, or as a last check before bed. Add this to your kitchen tablet too if you're using one.

6. Test that offline mode works (do this once)

This is the single most important verification after install. Why: TNEB outages and ISP outages happen often in India. A smart home that stops working when the internet goes down is worse than a dumb home.

Test procedure (5 minutes):

1. Open the app, confirm it shows "Connected" (cloud icon)
2. Power off your home router
3. Wait 60 seconds for the app to switch to local control mode
4. Toggle a light from the app — it should respond in under 1 second over local WiFi
5. Toggle the same light from the physical wall switch (Pro8 still has tactile buttons) — should also work
6. Power the router back on; confirm cloud reconnects within 30 seconds

If step 4 fails — the device went unreachable — your phone is probably on mobile data, not the same WiFi. Toggle WiFi on the phone and retry.

7. Common issues and fixes

What you have after a clean install

• Every light, fan, AC, plug and geyser controllable from the app + voice + the physical wall switches that came with the panel
• All schedules, scenes and sensor rules running locally on the Pro8 — they survive ISP outages
• Per-appliance kWh tracking, with monthly bill prediction tuned for the TNEB tariff slabs
• Push notifications when an appliance has been on for unusually long (e.g., "AC on for 8 hours during peak slab")
• Voice control via Alexa today, Google Home in Q3 2026
• 5-year hardware warranty, including the snubber replacement above

Total cost of a 2BHK setup: ₹35,000–₹50,000 for hardware (3× Pro8 + 1× Pro4 + a couple of sensors) plus ₹2,500–₹4,500 for the electrician's day. The bill prediction alone tends to save Tamil Nadu families ₹400–₹900 / month by flagging slab boundaries before they cross — the system pays for itself inside two years.

If you'd like a free site visit to plan your specific 2BHK before ordering, call us on +91 75500 58208 or book a visit. We'll send a planner who maps every switchboard, identifies which rooms need a Pro8 vs a Pro4, and gives you a fixed quote.