Thanks for the answer. 

Changed from Auto to Day and now works perfectly.

  @JAD51 - for some probably a useful approach but only if you have a strong additional light source at night?

The problem I get is in low light, the extra noise in the image created by the camera sensor in the dim available light is actually 2 issues,

1. The images are very grainy (there is a lot of colour noise) so recorded detail is quite poor.

2. Because of the noise levels, the data is harder to compress, so files become much bigger than they would be in night mode - and the memory card fills up about x5 faster than in daytime.

  @SMARTER The camera detectors produce their own photon noise, and if there are not enough incoming photons to overwhelm the receiver's 'noise' limit, you will get a poor image. Nothing you can do about this. This is an inexpensive camera and for it's price works very well, but it needs enough image light to overcome the inherent noise of the camera itself.

  @Solla-topee 

Your screen shot saved my life 😁

Really, thanks !

  @glenjenks Day setting suits my need but for those who would like to run their cameras in night mode with the IR LEDs turned off:

Set to night vision > put pieces of electrical tape > apply over lights.

Problem solved.8)

Haven't tried it but seems like it would work.