Guys,

Thanks for the replies... I should be resting (been unwell recently) and not really spending all day on this ! maybe that's why my brain hurts !! - but I think I've found what is causing the problem...

On the easyPIC5 board, I noticed that when the time reached 00:00, LEDs on B5 - B7 seemed to strobe, and then stop at 00:01 - this was also observed on the version in the prototype, as the lights flashed at midnight today ! - this seems to put the PIC in some limbo / reset state... ?

I've managed to get something working that sets the night time drops and turns on the lights if set before the activation time... I'm going to look at either Daves suggestion of a skip midnight routine, or take a fresh look at Darrel's routines and see if I can get that working... would love to know why the PIC is behaving so strange at midnight