All the lights without the electricity bill spike!
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There's little debate that a house covered in glimmering lights during the holiday season is a joy to behold, but the electric bill that comes with the nightly light show can certainly be the cause of some grief. Solar Christmas lights rely on power generated from a solar panel placed in your yard or a sunny area in your home to absorb energy during the day and keep the lights going at night without requiring extra electrical input, saving you energy and money, not to mention the headache of dealing with long extension cords or tracking down an outlet outside. At the Good Housekeeping Institute, we tested nine of the most popular solar Christmas lights in our Lab to find the best and brightest to deck out your home in style.
Our Lab experts look at a wide variety of Christmas-related home products, from traditional outdoor Christmas lights to artificial Christmas trees you can buy from popular retailers like Amazon and Walmart. Thanks to a special darkroom in our Lab that allows us to simulate different lighting conditions, from daylight to dusk, total blackout and UV, we've become experts on lighting apparatuses for the holidays, like solar-powered Christmas lights and Christmas light projectors (for those looking for a more fuss-free option than string lights). To evaluate solar Christmas lights, we look at ease of setup, how intuitive the controls are, and how durable they are. Then we examine the lights under multiple lighting conditions to find the brightest, most appealing ones on the market. We seek out solar-powered lights that hold a charge well, are weatherproof so you don't need to fret over exposure to snow and rain, and create an appealing display.
Keep reading after our picks to find out more about how we test solar Christmas lights, what you should look for when selecting the perfect lights for your house, and why you should trust Good Housekeeping. If you're looking for more ways to up the holiday cheer, check out our roundups of the best Christmas decorations, tree toppers and outdoor Christmas decorations. And when the season is over, consult our guide on how to recycle Christmas lights.
The Dazzle Bright string light set topped our test, thanks to its brightness and how colorful it is. It comes with two adjustable solar panels that you can stake into the ground and two sets of string LED lights. Each string holds 120 multicolored lights on a flexible copper wire so you can adjust the shape to your choosing. We especially like this set because the clear string was less noticeable, making the lights pop more.
The controls are located conveniently on the back of the solar panel. The mode button switches among eight different lighting variations including steady on, flashing, waving and more. Our lead tester noted that it's important to remember to turn the panel on during the day to collect a charge. The lights automatically turn on and off depending on how much light they detect, so be sure to place the solar panel with its light sensor in direct sunlight. If one of the lights break, the bulb may be tricky to replace.
According to the brand, these Joomer lights take about 6 to 8 hours to fully charge. While you can purchase these lights at 72 feet long and with 200 LEDs, you can also opt fot a shorter 100-LED option that's 39 feet long, or you can go all out and purchase the 300-LED option that's 105 feet long. Each set of lights comes with a solar panel and a ground stake with controls located on the back of the solar panel. Once the solar panel is switched on, the charging begins. A light sensor determines when it's dark enough to automatically turn the lights on.
There are eight different lighting modes that flash in different ways to provide the aesthetic that you want. Our pros like that it has a memory function, so if you have it on a specific mode and turn it off, it will go back to that mode when it turns back on. While these lights aced our Lab tests, some customer reviews noted that these lights weren't as bright as they had hoped, so if you're looking for something on the more intense side, opt for our top pick.
These lights from Lalapao were a star in our in-Lab testing, since they are bright, resistant to going out when one bulb is damaged, and offer eight different lighting modes. They are available in multiple color variations, from solid colors to multicolored and even red, white and blue if you want to decorate for the 4th of July. At 72 feet long, they're sure to cover any big lighting project, and are available in a two-pack for more ambitious designs. Because they're so long, they're not the best fit for indoor use unless you've got a very large house.
The brand claims these can work up to 10 hours or more when fully charged. When we tested, it took about one hour of sunlight before the lights would turn on. The auto-on feature means the lights turn on as soon as we switched the sunlight off in our test. The lights are IP65 rated so they are built to be resistant against water and dirt.
Nothing screams holiday cheer like a house littered in dazzling snowflakes. These solar-powered string lights from Brightown are a highly versatile way to ramp up your home's festiveness, coming in three different colors (pure white, warm white, and multicolor) as well as several lengths to ensure your desired area is showered in light. That said, we wished all the colors came in the different lengths available, so be sure to know how much space you'll need to cover before selecting your color option.
While we didn't test this model in-Lab, we've previously recommended other Brightown lights because of their IP65 rating (meaning they'll survive inclement weather) and unique shapes. We liked the ambience-based auto-light feature which automatically shuts the lights on and off given the presence or absence of daylight. And the eight different light strobe modes are also a nice touch.
These Brightown LED string lights can be purchased in solid colors or multicolor, so they are a one-stop shop for your decorating needs. At a length of 33 feet with 100 bulbs, it's ideal for smaller projects like around doors, as opposed to full fences or lines of landscaping. According to Brightown, the lights can work up to 10 hours after 4 to 6 hours of charging by sunlight.
With a claimed IP65 rating, they should be capable of resisting impact from the elements like dirt and water. That means even when it rains or snows, these should still work well so long as there is sunlight to charge it — just make sure your solar panels aren't obscured by snow.
Like our top pick, it has eight different modes to choose from, and you can readily cycle through them with a click of a button on the back of the solar panel. The solar panel contains a light sensor, so your lights will automatically turn on once it gets dark. In our tests, we found these lights easy to operate, and they were able to provide ample brightness once charged.
These outdoor string lights come with 200 LED lights on a string line that is 72 feet long. This allows you to wrap it around trees and fences easily. They can be purchased either as a solid color or a multicolored set of lights. The solar panel itself comes with a ground stake that helps to keep it firmly in place. The lead cable (length between the first LED light and the solar panel) is around 6 feet long, which allows you to keep the solar panel out of the way of your decor.
The controls to turn the lights on and off and the mode-changing button are located on the back of the solar panel. Like most others on this list, there are eight different modes to make the lights sparkle in different ways.
Unlike other picks, they offer a 12-month warranty according to Amazon, stating they'll either refund or replace a defective product. The charging time for the 8- to 12-hour working time is 6 to 8 hours, so it's good to have them on several hours before nightfall. A light sensor controls the auto-on at dark and auto-off when there is sunlight.
At the Good Housekeeping Institute, we have a special room that we can program to display specific wavelengths of light. With this equipment, we were able to simulate a day of sunlight to effectively charge up these solar-powered lights.
We then tested the durability and strength of each set of string lights by removing and attempting to break the bulbs. We evaluated whether the lights would continue to work if a single bulb was broken, or if it would result in a loss of continuity. If a light set had multiple modes, we tested each one for brightness and consistency. All of this was done in a dark room after charging in order to get an idea of how bright these lights would be at nighttime and how effective their auto-on capabilities were.
✔️ Length: Typically, the longer the light string, the more LED bulbs per set. Shorter sets are great for trimming doors and windows but if you're decorating trees or shrubs you may want to opt for the longest option available. Many brands sell multipacks of lights or several different length options.
✔️ Modes: While most solar lights have a similar number of modes, a few don't have as many options. If you want to really spice up your decorations, take a look at what flashing or pulsing modes are available.
✔️ Working time: This means how long the lights will stay on after a full charge. There's nothing worse than setting up great decorations only for them to turn off prematurely. Look for a working time of 8 to 10 hours if you want them to last all night.
✔️ IP rating: Outdoor lights need to withstand the elements, and an IP rating will tell you how durable your lights will be in that regard. An IP rating is a professional standard that classifies how protected electrical equipment is from external waste — practically speaking, that means dirt and water. Each rating is read as IPXX, where the first "X" represents solids, and the second "X" represents liquids. The higher the number, the more resistant it is to that matter. The number for solids goes up to 6, and the number for liquids goes up to 9. Look for lights with IP ratings of IP65 for outdoor ruggedness designed to withstand winter weather.
Generally speaking, most solar Christmas lights are designed to function throughout the night without cause for concern. We tend to like units that have an auto-off feature so that the lights automatically turn off during the day. Leaving lights running continuously over multiple days may increase the risk of fire hazard as the lights heat up, so it's best practice to turn off your lights, or use ones that automatically turn off, either in the presence of sunlight or via a timer.
Alec Scherma is a mechanical engineer whose testing experience ranges from artificial Christmas trees to binoculars. He was the lead tester of solar Christmas lights, and with the help of Good Housekeeping's former chief technologist Rachel Rothman, their combined experience provided the necessary knowledge to determine which picks in the crowded market will last the longest and light up your house the brightest.
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