It's also important to make sure that your cables have good clamps. Thicker - or heavy-duty - wires allow more electricity to pass through, so if you have a larger battery that needs more juice to start, you'll probably want a pair of cables with a lower gauge.

The lower the gauge, the thicker the wire is, ranging from 1-gauge to 12-gauge. One way in which jumper cables differ is in the gauge, or thickness, of the wire. Jumper cables, also sometimes called 'booster cables,' come in many different varieties, so you'll want to make sure you pick the pair that's right for you. They currently have 4.7 stars out of 5, based on over 12,000 customer ratings.Īs shown here with the Horusdy jumper cables, red clips are always connected to positive terminals and black clips to the negative terminals. Keep in mind, though, that at 12 feet, you'll have to park the cars you use nose to nose or side by side for the clamp ends to reach the battery terminals on both cars (just make sure they don't touch each other, as that can be dangerous).Īmazon Basics' Jumper Cables are the fourth-best-selling pair of battery jumper cable sets on the site. Higher jumper cable gauge will be necessary for larger model cars. While the gauge is high enough that the cables are probably best suited for smaller or compact cars, it will work like a charm with them. Most jumper cables are relatively modest in price, but if you really want to save money and you can deal with a shorter pair of cables with thinner wire gauge, you can get a real bargain without sacrificing the efficiency you need.Īmazon Basics' Jumper Cables are 12 feet long, 10-gauge with insulation, and only cost $16, making them among the cheaper jumper cables on the market. This gauge jumper cable can handle higher amperage, greater than 400 amps, delivering a burst of power that can jump-start trucks and SUVs in addition to cars.

Combined with a two-year warranty, that means that Energizer's cables are a smart investment.Įnergizer's Jumper Cables also rank as our top pick in the heavy-duty category - while the company offers a 6-gauge model, most of the varieties range in wire gauge from 1-gauge to 4-gauge.

The Energizer jumper cable set is highly ranked for their capabilities, and they come at a reasonable price, as well - the 16-foot cable length/2-gauge cables are only $30, while the most deluxe, heavy duty cable model to move more serious amperage (25 feet/1-gauge) comes in at just $52. They also edge out Cartman Booster Cables in the sales category, ranking as the most popular jumper cables on the site. Like Cartman, they have 4.8 stars out of 5 on Amazon, based on more than 13,000 customer ratings. While Energizer's Jumper Cables may rank as our runner-up heavy duty jumper cable set, they're really just as good as the Cartman models.

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