SSR01 - substitute H1 with zener?

[tk-don]

Hi,

I'm building a 7V SSR01 using a 9V AC supply, which when rectified and accounting for losses should give nearly 12V output, which should be ok with the SSR01 with AD825 I hope.
The PCB will be partly visible through a perforated cardboard inside an old tube radio, and would like avoid any shining LEDs if possible.

Would it thus be possible just to use a 2.4V zener diode instead of H1, and just leave R3 at 2.2k? Or is the base current of the BC556B negatively affected by this (as I-V characteristics of zeners and LEDs are not the same)
Or would it be possible to even use a 3.3V zener like used as DZ1, possibly lowering the value of R3?

[peranders]

I'll suggest that you take three 1N4148 in series instead or put the led in a shrink tube or paint it black. If you increase the H1 voltage, then the drop out voltage will increase and then you'll need to adjust the voltage of the IC1.

[tk-don]

Great, thanks P-A. I found a rubber cap for a rocker switch which fit perfectly ontop of the LED. Otherwise the assembled SSR01 works excellently it seems - 6.97V output spot on with the calculations.