@Solla-topee What about those of us that have exterior IR floodlights and cannot use outdoor cameras due to risk of tampering?

@Solla-topee has clearly not read my message. Is this the quality of support we can expect? Poor form TP-Link.

@Solla-topee  believe it or not there are other sources of infra red light that the camera will pick up. A simple option to turn off the IR LEDs would not cause the camera to not work, it would just mean those of us with other ambient light sources could record the outside without the glass reflecting the IR LEDs. 

It's a simple option, with little to no negatives but TP Link obviously aren't bothered or their engineers aren't good enough for a simple software update.

@Parratt Yes I'm aware of that  however that then keeps the camera recording in colour which is poor quality. Whereas in monochrome the video is much clearer. It's really not hard to have a camera that switches to monochrome and still has the ability to have the IR LEDs turn off. It's less of an issue now, the Tapo cameras have been retired because of the poor functionality and another brand has replaced them that gives the ability for colour night vision.

@Parratt .You clearly misunderstand the problem. I wish to keep the camera in infrared mode (i.e. NIGHT mode) but turn off the built-in IR LEDs and use external IR illumination. DAY mode does not have an IR vision and requires visible light illumination. The whole point of IR vision is so that I don't have to have the entire area lit up through the night. And no, motion activated lights is not a solution.

namenottaken wrote

@Parratt .You clearly misunderstand the problem. I wish to keep the camera in infrared mode (i.e. NIGHT mode) but turn off the built-in IR LEDs and use external IR illumination. DAY mode does not have an IR vision and requires visible light illumination. The whole point of IR vision is so that I don't have to have the entire area lit up through the night. And no, motion activated lights is not a solution.

I would like the same capability for my TC60 as I also posted elsewhere. I would also like to run my camera in night mode with IR LEDs switched off.

A key reason is the video noise generated when using daytime mode at night makes the compression algorithm less efficient and the SD card is filled up much, much faster.

I can imagine the unfortunate possibility that the hardware has not been designed to allow the IR filter and the IR LEDs to be controlled independently of each other to simplify the control logic. But if this is not the case, the facility to switch off IR LEDs in night mode should be provided for these cameras in a future software update as otherwise night  mode is completely unusable behind glass.

By the way, I read a post somewhere in an Amazon product review comment from a user who said he had levered the front cover off his camera and removed the IR LED module which he claimed could be simply lifted / unplugged from the main module - I will quote the response here just for reference but obviously this is unverified and not recommended.

A: It’s not a software change, it’s a hardware hack. While you can turn off the ir in software, the camera stays in day mode, what you want is it to go into night mode but no IR lights. If you remove the front panel, the IR module is just plugged into the main board and surrounds the camera lens. You can simply lift the IR module off the main board and remove it completely from the camera then put the front panel back on. Although this is a very simple task, Just remember if you do this, you risk damaging the front panel of the camera and you will likely void any warranty for the camera. You do it at your own risk. But it worked great for me.
By Ronnie on 10 September 2021

Also this user did not confirm which model he had. I contemplated the possibility of doing this with my TC60 but without knowing any specific techniques or trick to remove the front cover without excessive force there seems a high risk of damage and certainly voided warranty.

The amount of comments both on Amazon reviews and here about wanting to disable IR LEDs should be a strong signal to TP-Link that this is a significant user concern.

@namenottaken I solved it. It is not an easy fix however. 

I had an old Belkin cam which was no longer used as the company shut down the service. I kept the camera "in case" I could use it later. Today is later. I harvested the IR emitter ring from within the old camera. It has a light sensor as well. I cut the old power cable end and soldered it directly to the IR emitter ring. I now have an invisible IR light source. The NEW camera, C100, has a VERY EASILY removed IR emitter board. I just used a thin flat screwdriver to carefully pop the black face plate off and simply pulled the IR board out. It is only held in by its connector, no screws no clips. The camera works normally without this. Replaced the faceplate and powered it up. It works the same as before. Now, I set it up against my window with no glare and set the IR light outside. When it gets dark my camera goes to night mode and the outside IR lights turn on. I tested everything in a dark bathroom before I set it up. The C100 has no IR and sees nothing in the dark but when I plugged the IR ring in and the sensor turned on the IR, the camera sees like daylight.

This picture shows on the left the IR board from the C100, super easy to remove. The right shows the IR ring from my old camera, I glued back on the black plate and will silicone the egdes neatly to weatherproof it.