Best choice
Schumacher SC1280 6/12V Rapid Battery Charger
Premium pick
DieHard 71326 6/12V Gold Shelf Smart Battery Charger
Best value
STANLEY FATMAX J7CS Power Station Jump Starter
A portable jump starter is a very reliable companion when car trouble hits you and it proves that it is a crucial tool to get you home safely.
When there is no other vehicle around to help you jump start your car, a jump starter is a handy device that will help you out when your battery suddenly drains. If you are sure you don’t have a problem with your spark plug, the most common trouble is a drained battery when your car doesn’t start. Like a power bank for your mobile phone, a jump starter is an easy to use portable battery charger (or more appropriately a power ‘booster’) on the go. Moreover, it can also be used to charge your cell phone, tablets, and other electronic devices.
Check out these 8 best jump starters in 2020
The EC-5 Mini car Jump Starter from Lotus Power kit is a great replacement for your worn out or dilapidated adaptor. But be sure that your jump starter has an EC-5 output. Compare to the old model, this new lighter socket adaptor has twice the copper wire and the gauge is increased, making it thicker and stronger.
The 12V clip-on battery adapter can be used to run 12V gadgets via direct connection to car jump starters. Moreover, it can be used through other power sources where it fits.
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If you want more protection for your car while jump-starting the battery, the Fconegy Replacement Clamp Cables offer several safety features.
The Fconegy has alligator clamps that secure the jump starter’s connection. It also protects against over-charging, reverse polarity, short circuit, low-temperature starting, reverse connection, over current, reverse charging, and over discharging. Now, that’s major peat a single device that costs less than $15 a piece.
Most of all, this portable and smart jumper-starter booster is a great device for emergencies. It is also the most recommended replacement for old and damaged OEM adaptor.
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If you want a versatile jump starter and a flashlight in one, why not try the Weego 66.1 Jump Starting Power Pack? This amazing new version provides 600 lumens of brightness so you can charge even in the dead of night.
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Our next jump starter doesn’t die without a fight. The DieHard Gold Shelf Smart Battery Charger is an intelligent jump starter and multistage charger. It delivers 6/12V 2-6A of charge for accurate and safe charging, a safety feature that also prolongs battery life.
But unlike other jump starters in its category, the Gold Shelf by DieHard features battery maintaining capability to prevent overcharging. This device also has LED indicators and digital display screen so you know it is charging efficiently.
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Do you want a jump starter that could also inflate your tires? Well, the Stanley Fatmax Jump Starter is probably what you need. But that’s not all. This modern jump starter delivers 700 peak battery amps with 350 instant starting amps.
Fatmax has a built-in compressor that could provide up to 120 psi of air pressure, more than enough to inflate a flat tire even in a pitch-black environment. One of the most interesting things about this jump starter is its very affordable price, which falls at less than $50. Quite inexpensive compared to other brands of its class.
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The Schumacher SC1280 is a high-tech jump starter that features quick battery charging and automatically selects charge rate for maintaining and charging. It delivers 15Amp to charge and 3Amp to maintain the battery.
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If you own a truck, an SUV, or any other vehicles with a bigger battery than cars, the recommended jump starter to use is the Schumacher SC1308 Fully Automatic Battery Charger. This jump starter unit also features Advanced Diagnostic Testing that makes it stands out above the rest (this explains the higher price tag).
This device is best to use as a battery and alternator tester aside from being a charger. It has an easy-to-read digital display that you can easily see even in the dark. It even has a microprocessor control with float mode to monitor charging and maintains the charge automatically.
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If you have a large battery, the Schumacher SC1281 Fully Automatic Battery Charger is another smart choice as a fast jump starter for your vehicle. The SC1281 also features Advanced Diagnostic Testing that can detect electrical troubles on vehicles.
This device is certified under the UL standard as a safe jump starter for any type of large vehicle. It also features auto voltage detection that identifies the needed voltage to charge the battery, which adds protection to battery life and the precise energy required. It has multi charging capacity and a reverse hook-up protection to avoid improper operation due to mixed-up clamps.
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What is a jump starter?
A jump starter, also called a booster pack, is a comfortable device that acts as an extension of the battery of a vehicle. The gadget comes with alligator clamps to attach to the battery of your vehicle. This device eliminates the need for another vehicle to jump-start your car and the messy jumper cables.
When your battery suddenly dies out and you have no one or nothing to turn to for help, a jumper starter will surely resurrect your battery to life just to turn on the engine. Once you hook up the jumper starter into your car’s battery, it will provide enough peak amps out from the device to boost the battery in your vehicle and turn the engine on.
But once you can get home or in a service shop, you must recharge your car battery to give it another lease of life.
How does a jump starter work?
Before the invention of jump starters, a vehicle with a flat battery is restarted using electrical power from another running vehicle with a battery that is also running. Commonly called ‘jumpstarting’, this would require two long cables and a careful set-up where you will connect the two vehicles’ common positive and negative battery terminals.
If you want to know how to charge a car battery using jumper cables, read here.
The modern jump starters eliminate the need for this ‘other’ vehicle and the long and messy cables. The jumper starter provides the necessary electricity to get your car starts again that will generate electricity from the car’s alternator.
But how does a jump starter works? It’s very simple, really.
A jumper starter is a one-shot device and only puts out a base peak amperage. This gadget does not fully charge the dead battery. You just match the colored alligator clamps of the jump starter to those of the car battery’s terminals.
Once you have the right connection, turn the power button for the jump starter. This device will then transfers its peak amperage to the car battery and will boost the cranking amps. You can then start the engine of your vehicle.
Conclusion
Our best choice for the best jump starter for vehicles is the fully automatic battery charger Schumacher SC1281. We own an SUV thus we have a big battery and this device’s Advanced Diagnostic Testing feature is a big help.
Moreover, we think that the best value goes to the STANLEY FATMAX J7CS Jump Starter. Its versatility, more affordable price and the added compressor system is worth the purchase.