Make my battery level indicator dimmable
You can't get "fully off" with this chip. Even if you disconnected VR1 altogether, the 45 &micro;A current through the reference network would still put about half a milliamp through the LEDs.

A second issue working against you is the fact that modern LEDs are a lot more efficient than those available back when this chip was designed &mdash; they're quite bright on half a milliamp.



You could try adding a voltage follower between the reference output and RH, which would reduce the reference load to negligible levels. You'll also need a much higher value for VR1 &mdash; 1 M&Omega; or more. But I don't know whether this would shut off the LEDs altogether even if you open-circuit VR1.