house decorated with Christmas lights

10 Best Solar Christmas Lights in [current_year] (Review)

The Christmas season is coming and nothing is more important than spending time with your family. Installing the Christmas decorations is a nice activity that you can do with your kids, and to do so you will need the best available products on the market.

Among some of the elements that you must consider in Christmas decorations, illumination is one of the most important. To light up your outdoor areas, your Christmas trees, and your Christmas ornaments, you will need the best solar Christmas lights in [current_year].

The solar-powered Christmas lights are designed to provide you the same valuable quality as other traditional Christmas lights, but there is a difference: they use a solar panel to work independently from your electrical system. This means you won’t need power wire which makes the installation easier, energy-saving, efficient, and eco-friendly. A good option would be to choose one or more of the best Christmas lights available from this list.

Carlos

Written by qualified solar engineer Carlos. Last updated:

The Best Solar Christmas Lights

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1. GDEALER SD3 Solar Christmas Lights

Key Features:

  • Multi-colored
  • Waterproof
  • 2 working modes: steady and flashing

Key Specifications:

  • 20-foot (6 m) long extension
  • 8 hours of working time on a full charge
  • 1 AA battery required

Where To Buy

The GDEALER SD3 solar powered Christmas lights are the perfect choice to light up your patio during this holiday season. Designed in the shape of a water drop, these solar string lights have a multi-color configuration that includes blue, yellow, red, and green. These lights work perfectly for Christmas time while providing a charming atmosphere.

These LED string lights are 20 feet long, and they allow you to extend the LED lights across long stairways and other areas using a single string. These fairy lights are powered by a solar panel that stands in the grass and can be easily installed by using a 20 cm garden stake. This allows you to select the appropriate tilt and azimuth angles. The panel can provide 8 hours of working time after it fully charges the integrated battery.

The LED bulbs are regulated by a controller that has two switches: one to select a steady mode and a flashing mode, and the other one is a power switch.

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2. Mpow 33ft 100LED Solar Christmas Lights

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Key Features:

  • 8 lighting modes
  • Heat-resistant
  • IP64 rating protection

Key Specifications:

  • 10 hours of working time
  • 33 feet length (10 m)
  • 100 LEDs

Where To Buy

This Mpow product works perfectly for Christmas decorations with up to 100 brilliant LEDs that provide a warm glowing effect to any area such as a patio, lawn or yard.

These LEDs have up to 8 working modes that allow switching lighting views. Among some of these working modes, you will find: waves, fading, chasing, fading slowly, fireflies, twinkle, combination and steady on options. Moreover, these solar LED Christmas lights are flexible and easily bendable at will across a 33ft. ultra-thin copper wire that can be used for both indoor or outdoor conditions. The warm white light can be used for decorating fences, and gardens.

These lights work by using the power from the sun to generate electricity through a solar panel that converts sunlight into electrical energy which is stored inside a rechargeable battery. Once the battery is completely charged, these lights can work up to 10 hours and they can automatically turn on at night and off during the day.

Besides, the Mpow 100 LEDs can resist multiple weather conditions thanks to their IP64 rating protection against water and dust, making them perfect for both indoor and outdoor areas. They are also heat-resistant.

3. Vmanoo 72ft Multicolor Solar Christmas Lights

Key Features:

  • Working time 8-12 hours
  • Charging time 6-8 hours
  • Multi-color

Key Specifications:

  • 72 feet long (22 m)
  • 200 LEDs
  • 1800mAh Ni-MH battery

Where To Buy

The Vmanoo multi-color holiday solar light bulbs have one of the best ratings available in the market.

With up to 72 feet of extension and up to 200 LED lights, these solar powered globe lights have two mode buttons. One is the power switch and the other one allows you to choose between 8 lighting modes: Slo-Glo, slow fade, twinkle/flash, steady on, combination, waves, sequential, and chasing/flash. Among other features, the power switch does not need to be turned off every day. This product can automatically turn the lights off during the day and light up at dusk. The lights can work for up to 12 hours, and they take 6-8 hours to charge.

The solar outdoor Christmas lights are powered by a small panel that charges an 1800mAh built-in rechargeable Ni-MH battery that is integrated into a ground stake. It can be easily turned to the optimum orientation angle and the optimum tilt angle. These ball lights come in multiple colors such as green, blue, yellow and red, making them perfect to light up a house, a garden, a patio or even large commercial applications such as a commercial mall or shopping center.

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4. SKYFIRE Twinkle Fairy Lights

Key Features:

  • Time to charge: 6-hours
  • Warm white color
  • Ni-MH battery

Key Specifications:

  • 13 feet total length (4 m)
  • 200 LEDs
  • 17% conversion efficiency

Where To Buy

The SKYFIRE Twinkle Fairy Lights are another great choice if you are looking for an option to light up your Christmas tree.

Designed to provide a warm white light, these 200 LEDs are powered by a rechargeable Ni-MH battery that provides 600mA. This battery is constantly recharged by a 170mA output solar cell with an efficiency of a 17% conversion rate and it also needs 6-hours to charge.

The Skyfire lights have an IP65 rating protection that ensures they will endure rainy weather conditions, which makes them perfect for both outdoor and indoor purposes. They also have two switches available:  one for ON/OFF configurations and the other one as a steady/flashing mode.

Something unique from these solar Christmas string lights is that they are split into 10 strands of 20 LED lights across 6.5 ft. and they are jointed at 6.5 ft. from the solar panel. This gives them a total distance of 13 feet.

5. Dephen Multicolor Moroccan Ball Decorations

Key Features:

  • 50,000 hours lifespan
  • Multi-color lights
  • Flashing and steady modes

Key Specifications:

  • 15 feet long cable (4.5 m)
  • 20 LEDs
  • Working time: 8-10 hours

Where To Buy

The Dephen Multicolor Moroccan Ball style LED outdoor lights are the perfect addition to your patio, garden, fence, yard, or Christmas tree during the holiday season.

With a 15 ft. long extension copper wire that splits 6 inches apart from every ball light, you can provide a beautiful color combination between red, blue, yellow and soft green to every area of your Christmas decor. The ball lights are powered by a built-in AA rechargeable battery that charges via an adjustable solar panel in 6-8 hours. With a full charge, these lights can work for 8-10 hours.

The lifespan of the entire ball decoration lights is more than 50,000 hours which means over 10 years of performance. Moreover, they have been designed with waterproof technology, making them suitable for outdoor and indoor use.

The Moroccan ball-style lights operate with two switches that are located in the controller, which is integrated into the backside of the panel. One of these switches allows for ON/OFF configuration and the other switch allows for flashing and steady modes.

6. Gigalumi 23 Feet 50 LED Solar Fairy Lights

Key Features:

  • Flower-shaped
  • IP65 waterproof rating
  • Steady/flashing modes

Key Specifications:

  • 23 feet long per package (7m)
  • 50 LEDs
  • Working time: 10 hours

Where To Buy

The Gigalumi solar Christmas tree lights have one of the most beautiful and unique designs among holiday lights.

50 LED flower-shaped lights are split into 2 packages of 23 feet length that are long enough as to décor your house and make your garden stand out from the rest. Thanks to their IP65 waterproof design, these solar powered outdoor lights withstand all kinds of weather conditions, making them perfect for both indoor and outdoor decorations.

The Gigalumi lights resemble real flowers, so you can easily integrate them into your garden and make them look like part of your greenery. These lights are multiple colors (blue, red, yellow and green) and they are powered by a solar panel that charges a battery. The battery provides up to 10 hours of working time once it’s fully charged. The panel can be easily installed in the patio using garden stakes to stick it into the ground.

Moreover, these lights have 2 switches: one for steady/flashing modes and the other one for turning the lights on/off.

7. Windpnn Twinkle Fairy Lights

Key Features:

  • IP65 waterproof rating
  • Twinkle star-shaped lights

Key Specifications:

  • 30 feet long (9.1 m)
  • 50 LEDs
  • Working time: 10 hours

Where To Buy

The Windpnn Twinkle Fairy Lights provide a charming atmosphere to any Christmas decor. Equipped with a light sensor, they can automatically turn on during the night and turn off during the day. This saves you the task of turning the lights on and off every day.

Moreover, designed with 30 feet long and including 50 LEDs, the Windpnn fairy lights can perfectly light up any landscape, garden, patio lawn, yard, or outdoor Christmas tree with beautiful warm white twinkle star lights.

The long string of star lights is powered by a highly efficient solar panel that converts sunlight into electricity to be stored inside a small battery. Once fully charged by solar (typical charging time required is 6-8 hours), these lights can work up to 10 hours during the night.

Similar to other available models, the panel is easy to install because it integrates a ground stake to be used in gardens or yards. Moreover, the backside of the module features its own controller that allows you to switch between steady and flashing lighting styles.

8. Inngree 20 ft Multicolor Snowflake Lights

Key Features:

  • Snowflake shape
  • Multi-color
  • Ni-MH battery

Key Specifications:

  • 20 feet long (6 m)
  • 50LEDS
  • Working time: 8-12 hours

Where To Buy

The Inngree 20 ft. solar Christmas lights have a unique shape that resembles snowflakes, making them ideal for a Christmas.

Designed with highly transparent plastic that when illuminated by LEDs, can vary colors between red, blue, yellow and green. Moreover, the Inngree solar lights have an upgraded LED chip that allows them to shine brighter than other brands available in the market. Besides, the 50 LED lights are powered by a built-in Ni-MH battery with 1800mAh capacity and 1.2 V output, which charges under direct sunlight by using a solar panel with a 300mA output.

The light’s battery can get fully charged within  8 hours of direct sunlight and the lights can work between 8-12 hours during the night.  Moreover, you will be able to experience up to 8 lighting modes with the same product. The integrated controller will allow you to switch between flashing, twinkle, sequential, waves, chasing, slow fade, steady on, and slow-glow modes. The controller will also have another switch for turning the lights on and off.

The estimated lifespan of the product reaches 5,000 hours (nearly year 6 Christmas seasons).

9. Soco 30 LED 19.8ft Globe Lights

Key Features:

  • Yellow color
  • Globe shape lights
  • 8 lighting modes

Key Specifications:

  • 19.8 feet long (6 m)
  • 30 LEDs
  • Working time:

Where To Buy

The Soco 30 LED globe lights are a valuable product that has earned a lot of positive solar Christmas lights reviews, mainly due to their beautiful color, design, and performance.

These solar Christmas lights have a 19.8 ft. extension copper wire that includes 30 LED globe lights, each separated by a 6-inch gap. These lights can be used for multiple purposes such as Christmas tree illumination, interior house decoration, and outdoor areas such as patios, yards, gardens, and for commercial uses in shopping centers. Not only are they intended for Christmas but also other holidays, parties, weddings, and festivals.

The Soco lights are powered by a separated solar panel that is easy to install in your yard by using the ground stake that is integrated with it. Keep in mind that if the soil is too hard, you can soften the ground with water and then slowly insert the stake into the ground. The panel can convert sunlight into electrical energy to be later stored inside a 600mAh Ni-MH battery.

The Soco solar powered Christmas lights are also designed to work under 8 lighting working modes of operation and they have a yellow color.

10. Jmexsuss 206 ft Multicolor Christmas Lights

Key Features:

  • Multi-color
  • 8 working modes
  • IP44 waterproof rating

Key Specifications:

  • 206.7 feet long (63 m)
  • 600 LEDs
  • Working time: Up to 12 hours

Where To Buy

The JMexsuss multi-color lights are the ultimate choice in this list to light up your house during the holidays.

These long string lights have up to 206.7 feet in total copper wire length, which is far enough to cover all your house in lights using a single package. These traditional Christmas lights have nearly 600 small LEDs that shine with different colors (blue, yellow, green and red) split with a 10 cm gap between them.

Moreover, the string lights can run between 8-12 hours once they are fully charged by a solar panel. The panel can be easily installed in the garden or yard of your preference to harness solar energy and convert it into electricity. The product also has multiple lighting modes available such as wave, sequence, slow-glow, chasing/flash, steady on, twinkle/flash, slow fade, and combination.

The lights are also protected against bad weather with their IP44 waterproof rating protection. They feature heat-resistance (you will be able to touch without feeling the insulation wire hot, even if they are turned on), low-energy consumption, and no radiation exposure.

5 Features to Look For When Buying Solar Powered Christmas Lights

Charging Time vs Working Time

Some of the first technical factors that you should be looking for when choosing solar Christmas lights are related to the charging and working times of the lights.

The charging time represents the number of hours that the integrated (generally Ni-MH) battery will need to get fully charged from the solar panel power supply alone. The charging times for these types of lights generally vary between 6-10 hours.

The charging time is highly dependent on solar radiation throughout the day. Also, the number of hours required for charge estimated by the manufacturer assumes full direct sunlight radiation. Therefore, if there are any cloudy days ahead, then the solar panel’s performance will not be as efficient as calculated by the manufacturer. Based on these cases, it is advisable to select the lights that take fewer hours to get fully charged in a single day.

On the other hand, there is also the working time. Also referred to as the running time, it represents the number of hours that the holiday lights will be able to light up during the night. Ideally, it is desirable to have as many working time hours as possible, however, this will depend on the energy capacity of the battery and if it was capable of getting fully charged or not.

It is also advisable to select LED lights with realistic working times and take into account the charging time over the working time. If the working time is long, but the charging time required is 10-12 hours, then your battery will need two days at least to get fully charged, assuming good sunny conditions. Not charging the battery to its fullest on multiple occasions can affect the performance of the battery and reduce effective capacity.

If you are thinking about indoor applications, keep in mind that the solar panel can also work with artificial lighting, but it is nowhere close to the conversion efficiency that the panels can have with sunlight. Since the lights are designed to work with sunlight, you should consider finding a way to mount the panel in an area through which it can receive direct sunlight (not through glass).

Length

The next factor that must be considered is related to the length of the lights. The length of a Christmas LED set of lights is crucial to find out how many packages you will need to purchase for your application.

Some people like to light up every corner of the house, while others like a simple touch addition without overwhelming the house with Christmas lights, this depends on taste. Depending on what you like, you will need longer or shorter strings of lights.

Shape and Color

Aesthetics are also important, especially since the lights are designed for decoration purposes. Therefore, the shape and colors of the lights are things to look for.

For Christmas purposes, there are many alternative colors and shapes. Most will offer either a multi-color option composed of green, red, yellow and blue, while others will offer a warm white color view. Despite that the multi-color is always more lively for Christmas, the warm white option is always more elegant. A combination of the two is always an option, get creative!

Regarding shapes, you will find globes, stars, snowflakes, water drops, and crystal ball styles. Again, choosing is a matter of your personal taste.

Lighting Modes

Most lights for Christmas will have at least two working modes: steady and flashing. However, some will have more options that can add a vibrant atmosphere to your garden, yard or Christmas decoration.

Some of these modes that you will find are: waves, fading, chasing, fireflies, twinkle, slow-glow, combination, sequential and steady on. Choosing a model that offers as many lighting modes as possible is always preferable. If you have kids, they will love the switching patterns.

Waterproof Rating

Finally, the waterproof rating should be the final consideration that you should look at. Like many other solar powered devices, manufacturers provide a waterproof rating that allows the user to understand how well protected are these devices against rain, snow, heat, and dust.

The rating is usually specified by an IPXY standard. In which the X value represents the protection against dust and particles, while the Y value is referred to the protection against water. To better understand the available standard options, you can check this link.

Keep in mind that the solar panels aren’t affected by rain or hail because they have been designed for outdoor conditions and they can withstand multiple climate scenarios.

What are the Different Types of Solar Christmas Lights?

There are several types of solar Christmas lights available in the market, they can be summarized as follows:

Solar Christmas Pathway Lights

the house decorated with Christmas lights

These models have an independent LED light and a solar cell that can be placed with steel or plastic stakes across a path. They are similar to solar powered pathway lights but they are designed with a Christmas decoration style.

Solar Christmas Tree Lights

tree decorated with christmas lights

These lights have a short length. They can be separated into multiple strands or they can be used with a single short strand. A good example is the Soco or Gigalumi models.

Solar Christmas String Lights

christmas string solar lights around a photo frame

These consist of a single strand and are designed for long distances and decoration of multiple small areas or single large areas. They usually have a lot of LEDs and, despite their many decorative themes, they have usually a globe style. We recommend the Jmexsuss or Vmanoo models for this type of light.

How Can the Weather Impact Solar Christmas Lights?

Weather is an additional factor that should be considered in extreme cases. As we explained before, these models are waterproof, so rain and snow are not considered an issue.

However, ambient temperatures are not part of the IP waterproof rating, and ambient temperatures can change from place to place. Some holiday lights are heat-resistant, which is good especially if you use them for annual occasions. This will avoid the insulation of the copper wire heating up (avoiding the danger of short-circuit). However, if you intend to use them for Christmas alone, the heat won’t be an issue.

Some regions may be too cold for the battery. The capacity of the battery reduces as temperature decreases, and in some cases, if the battery is too cold, it may even stop delivering power. This is a phenomenon that happens in any solar battery. The figure below shows a graph that illustrates this effect. Therefore, it is always important to check the permissible temperature range of the Ni-MH battery to verify if it is capable of working in that area.

Diagram of the effect of temperature on the effective capacity of a Ni-MH battery

Effect of temperature on the effective capacity of a Ni-MH battery. Source:

GlobTek

How to Maintain and Store Your Solar Christmas Lights

Like any other outdoor solar lighting device, a solar Christmas light requires some maintenance. Every now and then, the solar panel may need to be cleaned. Since the panels for the lights are very small, they are very easy to clean. By using a dry cloth or a sponge with water and a little bit of dishwashing soap, you will be able to remove any dirt from the module.

The solar panel should be able to melt any snow on its surface as it heats up. In case of snowfall, it may get fully covered. If this happens, you need to gently remove the ice if it’s stuck to the module.

When the time comes to store away your lights, make sure to store them in a cool, dry place. When the Christmas season is over, remember to take the lights out at least once every month. If the batteries are left without charge for long periods of time, the performance of the battery will be affected, reducing its capacity to hold the charge.

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