Kip and Mary Elizabeth Hyams have what they call an "Active Home." An active home without a lot of time. And on top of that, they have two dogs, a cat, a bird, and fish. So on top of their busy schedules, as anyone with pets would tell you, they take up a lot of their spare time, and they require a lot of effort and care. And on top of all that, Mary Elizabeth is disabled. Here’s a couple that’s got their work cut out for them. And their biggest job is to find time.

So to save time, Kip purchased an ActiveHome system so that his wife could turn the lights on and off easier. But then he found out he could control some of those things from his computers, both at home, and away from home. That was real exciting. Then he learned about programming macros. Once he got a handle on that, he added motion sensors. "Then I added security to the ActiveHome system so my wife would feel safer when she came home," Kip said. "And also when she is home alone."

And yet the story continues. He found a way to take care of his pets using ActiveHome. "I now program the ActiveHome system to not just control the lights in my fish tank, but to activate the auto-feeders dry contacts to feed the fish at specific times, and the dogs and cat too."

How do you get an idea like this? We’re glad you asked. That’s the most interesting part. Let’s tell it in his words.

"I got this idea because I installed a very large and expensive sound system at the famed Pier 39 in San Francisco. I needed to activate a pair of dry contacts that start the tape player at very specific times to make specific announcements all day and night. I purchased an ActiveHome system and programmed the CP290 interface on the laptop. Once a month Pier 39 makes a new announcement tape and I go up and reprogram the ActiveHome system so all the announcements come out at the right time. That is how I got the idea to set off the Auto feeder with our ActiveHome system."

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