Reference articles on history, science, culture and more
Surprise meSurprise meSubscribe
Encyclopedia

Bidirectional current

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated March 3, 2026

A bidirectional current (BidC) is an electric current which both charges and discharges at once. It is a current that flows primarily in one direction and then in the other.

Complicated systems which have integrated recharging capability sometimes resort to using bidirectional currents, as in laptops or other systems. Monitoring of a bidirectional current is required for a laptop to report the battery level and charging status. Components are available for this purpose.

Watch videos about Bidirectional currentExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Bidirectional current”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.

Continue exploring

Related topics

Differential amplifier

A differential amplifier is a type of electronic amplifier that amplifies the difference between two input voltages but suppresses any voltage common to the two inputs. It is an analog circuit with two inputs V in − {\displaystyle V_{\text{in}}^{-}} and V in + {\displaystyle V_{\text{in}}^{+}} and one output V out {\displaystyle V_{\text{out}}} , in which the output is ideally proportional to the difference between the two voltages: V out = A , {\displaystyle V_{\text{out}}=A(V_{\text{in}}^{+}-V_{\text{in}}^{-}),} where A {\displaystyle A} is the gain of the amplifier.