Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

If this http://www.ti.com/lit/pdf/slau227 is all that you have in terms of circuitry, I didn't see anything that I would interpret as being able to "read direct current".

If the above URL is not what you have, then we need more information to be able to help you.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "read direct current". If you mean "measure volts DC" or "measure DC current", then you probably need to add an "Analog to Digital Converter".

If you mean "sense whether DC curernt is flowing", then you need to build a simple RTL circuit (Resistor Transistor Logic) comparator that places the resistor in the current path and the base-emitter junction across the resistor such that the transistor will be forward biased when current is flowing. In other words, some circuit design.

If you mean "sense whether a DC voltage is above some threshold", the you need to build a simple RTL circuit where the resistor becomes a load resistor, again some circuit design required.

In any case, you are going to have to understand some circuit design electronics. Depending on exactly what you want to do, there maybe a better device to be experimenting with.