Jun. 05, 2025
Armor-Clad (AC) Cable: AC cable includes THHN-insulated conductors with 16-gauge aluminum bond wire placed inside the armor to act as a grounding conductor.
Automotive Cable: This is a general-purpose thermoplastic (GPT) wire, also referred to as primary wire. Normal applications are within motor vehicles with limited exposure to fluids, physical wear and abuse.
Bayonet Neill-Concelman (BNC) Cable: BNC cables are small, quick-connect/disconnect radio frequency connectors used for coaxial cables.
Category Cable: This is used for systems and data networking systems. Cat 5e is the most common variety of category cable that’s used for computer networking on internet service installations. The conductor pairs are twisted together to prevent cross-talk and interference from other paired conductors in the cable, as well as external interference. The higher the megahertz (MHz) capability, the more twists per foot.
Coaxial Cable: This is a metallic cable that carries television and video signals. It connects to video equipment and features a central conductor with a dielectric insulator, metallic shield and plastic jacket.
Doorbell Wire: Doorbell wire is used to connect a wired doorbell or video doorbell to a home’s electrical system. 18-gauge wire is the variety most often used.
Dual Armored Cable: This is a durable cable that offers protection without employing electrical conduit, elbows, offsets (which can be expensive) or conduit couplings. For areas where the cable may be exposed to moisture, metal-clad armor prevents corrosion.
Flexible Cord: Typically used for industrial machinery, washing machines and large appliances, portable tools, equipment, and extension or power cords, flexible/power cord has its own naming convention based on a letter code, with a common option being SJEOOW.
Lamp Cord: Used with lamps, small appliances, radios and other similar products that don’t exceed 300 volts, lamp cord is available between 18- and 12-gauge sizes in a variety of colors.
Landscape Lighting Low-Voltage (LV) Cable: This underground cable is suitable for outdoor accent lighting, landscape lighting and security lighting. Applications shouldn’t exceed 150 volts. It’s used for direct burial, is suitable for sunlight and is available between 16- and 8-gauge sizes.
Metal-Clad (MC) Cable: MC cable is used heavily in commercial electrical work, for running through concrete or in other commercial environments. Individual THHN wire conductors are run through an aluminum interlocked armor. It includes a grounding wire.
Mobile Home Feeder: This connects a mobile home to a supply of electricity where permanent wiring is required, and it’s suitable for direct burial and underground service entrance cable. It includes four RHH or RHW-2 conductors, with a white stripe for neutral and a green ground conductor. It’s sunlight-resistant.
Network and Data Cable: This comes in three types — fiber-optic, twisted-pair and coaxial cable — and is used to connect multiple networking devices or computers in a network.
NM-B: This is a non-metallic sheathed cable that’s used as a residential building wire for branch circuits for outlets, lighting and other residential applications. NM-B is available between 14 AWG and 6 AWG with two or three conductors.
Preassembled Whips: These are pre-cut lengths of armored cable designed to increase jobsite productivity. Assembly comes with pre-stripped THHN conductors and pre-installed zinc die-cast, snap-in fittings.
Residential Grounding Wire: This is bare copper wire that’s available in 4-, 6- and 8-gauge solid and stranded construction. It’s used to ground the residential electrical system, usually at the meter before it enters the dwelling. It’s also used for grounding the perimeter surface around pools.
Service Entrance Cable: This includes individual conductors rated XHHW-2 or THHN/THWN and feeds power from a main breaker to a subpanel. It can be exposed to direct sunlight and used in wet or dry locations.
Speaker Wire: Made of copper and designed to transport a low-voltage electrical current, speaker wire has a variety of wiring uses, including doorbells, thermostats, home security sensors, landscape lighting and other low-current systems.
Sprinkler Wire: Multi-conductor sprinkler wire is suitable for direct burial on applications up to 30 volts. It’s used in central controls for underground sprinkler systems and is available in 18-gauge construction with up to 25 conductors.
Submersible Pump Cable: This includes THWN copper conductors that are heat-, moisture-, oil- and gasoline-resistant. It’s suitable for temperatures below 75 degrees Celsius with two or three conductors. It’s used for power and circuits for submersible pump systems.
Thermostat Wire: Used in heating and air conditioning systems, along with bell and alarm systems, thermostat wire is available in 20- or 18-gauge sizes with up to 10 conductors.
Underground (UF-B) Wire: A copper wire used for underground purposes, including direct burial, it comes in a gray jacket and can be used for deck lighting, outdoor water features, landscape lighting and air conditioner compressors.
Underground Residential Distribution (URD) Cable: Used for secondary distribution and underground service applications at 600 volts or less, it’s suitable for direct burial or placement in ducts. It’s acceptable in wet locations in triplex or quadruplex. Conductors are stranded, compressed aluminum. The neutral conductor has a yellow, triple-extruded stripe.
When completing an electrical project, it’s important to have the right tools and safety equipment to get the job done. Check out some of the most common tools for an electricians tool box.
You will get efficient and thoughtful service from Electric Powertek.
Boxes and Covers: These are used to house outlets and adapters for operating lights, ceiling fans, kitchen appliances, etc.
Circuit Breakers and Fuses: These are two devices for preventing an electrical current from causing damage by overloading or shorting a circuit. Breakers and fuses interrupt the current during an overload or short and are housed in a breaker box or fuse box. Homes built after the s typically use circuit breakers rather than fuses.
Electrical Tape: Used for repairing electrical cords or insulating a wire, electrical tape is typically black. It can be used to identify wires and should be stretched as you apply it for better adherence.
Electrical Testers: Checking a circuit to make sure it isn’t live can be a life-saving decision. An electrical tester will quickly inform you if you’re working with live cables or not.
Outlets and Adapters: When wires are connected to an outlet or adapter, it allows the electrical current to power anything plugged into it, such as a kitchen appliance.
Plugs and Connectors: These are usually run from an appliance or a power cord and are plugged into an outlet on the wall. They allow an appliance to receive power from an outlet.
Wire Connectors: These connect two wires together with a connector: The exposed end of each wire is put into the connector and twisted so that they’re connected. Check out our DIY Basics video: How Do I Connect Two Wires?
Wire/Cable Cutters: This tool is used to cut directly through wire and cable. There are a variety of cutters for different jobs, so check that you’re using the appropriate one, whether you’re cutting through copper wire or a network cable.
Wire Strippers: This device removes the plastic casing to expose the bare wire underneath. Most strippers offer multiple slots for a variety of wire sizes, while some have an adjustment dial to set the correct size. Simply insert a wire into the correct sized slot, twist and pull it through.
Since OG started, I have spent countless hours trying to find the best budget electric pressure washer. It wasn’t a search I wanted to go on, but I realized there was a market out there that wanted a more affordable option. Kranzle (my favorite) is the single best electric pressure washer on the planet. Nothing else beats it. However, many of you may not want to shell out the cash for a pressure washer that will run into the thousands. So, searching for an entry-level solution in pressure washing at OG emerged.
On this journey, I discovered the Karcher series first. At the time, after testing dozens upon dozens of budget electric pressure washers, I was convinced they were all junk, and that was destined to be the result of these searches. The Karcher K was the machine that changed that.
Anyone who knows me knows that I could give a crap about anything being cheap or inexpensive. Whatever the cost is, I'm willing to pay it, especially if it's something that will add value to my everyday life. A quality pressure washer may not seem like something you'd invest much in, but if you're someone like me who likes to keep their car clean, then you're at the very least going to spend a few hundred dollars on a decent unit. I'd beg you to spend more, but in this scenario having something that functions well and at a lower price point suffices.
I've listed out what I think are the best budget pressure washers below.
The K made 1.1 GPM at PSI during testing with the OG Karcher Accessory Solution. This pressure was measured with a 50’ pressure washer hose and a Mosmatic Spray Gun (our mid-tier spray gun). For those who don’t understand what that means, from the OG perspective, you want as much flow as you can muster at PSI for washing a vehicle. Don’t get too hung up on the number, though. Most pressure washes will advertise - PSI but make nowhere near that in practice.
This amount of pressure will easily take mud off your Jeep or salt off your wheel wells. If you want more pressure out of the Karcher, you can size down from the 3.0 nozzle we recommend to a 2.0 or the 1.8 25-degree nozzle that comes with the Karcher. However, you will only need that for tasks like washing concrete or your siding.
This pressure washer comes with stock accessories from Karcher, so if you’re on a budget and want to wait to get the Karcher Accessory Package, you can use those temporarily. I personally hate the stock accessories, so I would want to upgrade.
If you want a pressure washer but want to keep your cost low, there’s nothing under $200 that compares. This unit also has a 3-year residential use (not for commercial use) warranty from Karcher, so if anything happens for three years, you can contact Karcher, and they’ll take care of you. I have no idea how they make this work for an entry-level unit, but they do.
Before the Active, I thought the Karcher was the only entry-level pressure washer that wasn’tcrap. The Active VE52/56 changed that yet again. The VE52/56 makes good numbers for anypressure washer, let alone for one under $250. It produces PSI at 1.94 GPM with the OG Active Accessory Package. That’s almost as good as the AR Blue Clean at a third of the price.
While the VE52/56 is not serviceable like the AR, you still get a great unit. Unlike the AR Blue Clean, this unit is rated for 100 hours. This lifespan may not seem like a lot, but in a normal car wash, you will have about 15 minutes of wash time per car. That means a VE52/56 will get you about 400 car washes in its lifetime, which is probably enough to last you years. In addition, if you use the OG Accessory Package with the bigger nozzles, you extend the pump's life because less restriction means less stress. This is true for all pressure washing units.
After we started to carry the VE52/56 from Active, I began to talk to James (at Active) about some surging issues (about 5%) of our units were having when we installed the OG Accessory Package to them. Unlike almost every manufacturer I have spoken to, James and his team at Active were very responsive to our concerns and issues. They worked with us to ensure that our units would no longer surge, and that issue is now resolved on all Active pressure washers available in the store. This relationship with Active continued to build the successor to the VE52/56, which is an absolute monster for the price.
The result of the project is the Active 2.0, a unit that does 2.0 GPM + at 700 PSI. This is plenty of pressure for car washing, and when combined with 2.0 GPM or more flow, this thing will do everything detailing-related you want it to. At $350, rated for 250 hours of use, this thing is a bargain, in my opinion. You’ll most likely get more hours using the OG Active Accessories as well due to the less restrictive nozzle.
Out of all of these entry-level pressure washers, I highly recommend the Active 2.0. If there was ever a machine I’d used besides my beloved Kranzle K TS and the AR630, it’s this one. The amount of output plus the extended life you’ll get out of this unit makes it a worthy purchase.
I may sound like I’m selling this hard, but I’m telling you, you won't find another budget pressure washer on the market that has the versatility, the performance, and the lifespan as this one.
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