Go green and save money this holiday season with solar Christmas lights. Not only are they better for the environment and won’t run up your electric bill, but solar-powered Christmas lights are also a breeze to install with no worrying about extension cords.
Your outdoor Christmas lights are one of those things like Christmas tree storage bags where you never buy them early enough so don’t wait. See the end of the article for a rundown of how to understand all the technical specs, troubleshooting, and how solar lights work.
For those who live in cloudy or rainy areas without much sun, Solar String Lights With a Battery Backup are a good choice. I bought this style of solar lights recently for my front stairs. The wire and lights will look tiny out of the box but trust me, they light up brightly and they don’t end up seeming small at all.
This set from Asmader runs on a solar rechargeable battery when solar power is available but when that battery runs out, the lights automatically switch over to three AA batteries (not included). That way if you have a few rainy (or snowy) days in a row, you can still have your Christmas lights on without needing to go out and make any adjustments.
Actually, once they’re set up, you don’t need to interact with them at all except to clean off the solar panel when needed because they come with a wireless remote. The remote can turn the lights on, off, and choose between one of eight flashing modes. It works through walls and up to 130 feet of distance.
The set comes with 60 feet of lights and 200 LED bulbs. The bulbs are closer to fairy light size but put out more light than you’d expect.
For those who love that classic Christmas bulb look compared to tiny fairy lights, check out these Multicolor Strawberry Solar Lights. The bulbs are two inches long with a traditional Christmas bulb shape and are faceted to give them more of a twinkle.
It’s a 21-foot strand with 50 LED solar lights and four inches of space between each light. They charge using the included solar panel. The panel is also how you control the eight function choices from steady to flashing to chasing.
Someone did the thing–they made Solar-Powered Christmas Window Candles so I don’t have to deal with batteries or trying to keep from knocking the candles off the window ledge.
I use these battery-operated window candles every year, but oh my goodness, they’re impossible to fit on my little window ledges. I balance them carefully but then it’s a trial to open and close my curtains and shades or keep my dog from knocking them down.
These solar-powered candles suction cup right to the window, no balancing needed, and the outside-face part of the suction up panel holds the built-in solar panel. They have two light modes of either steady on light or a flickering flame effect. They automatically turn on when it gets dark and turn off when the sun comes up.
If you get enough light through your window to power these, you might even be able to use solar lights on a small, slim Christmas tree.
For something a little more unique than plain bulbs, check out these Solar-Powered Stars. I bought these recently, with my own money to test out, and they look adorable. The stars were a little smaller than I had expected but they have such a wonderful warm glow along my fence post.
You get 100 LED stars, each one 1.5 inches in diameter. This set is 40 feet long in total with 34 feet of stars. The extra length is six feet of lead wire from the light to the solar panel.
The lights are made of a flat, transparent star with a bulb on the back of it so the stars do have a front and back from up close but you can’t really tell that from far away.
There are eight flashing modes to pick from and the lights can also work throughout the year as patio string lights. The high-efficiency panel has a run time of up to 12 hours.
Solar Mesh String Lights are about as easy as it gets because you can cover a wide area with perfectly straight and evenly spaced lights with minimal effort.
These solar powered lights have 200 LED bulbs that cover an area of 6.6 feet by 9.8 feet. They’re great for covering shrubs and bushes or even a small home if you buy a number of them.
There are eight flashing modes controlled by a button on the back of the solar panel for flashing patterns like dimming, chasing, and twinkling effects.
Each mesh sheet has a ground stake solar panel with a 3.3-foot lead cord to the mesh rectangle of lights. The 1,200 mAh battery in the panel has a run time of around eight hours.
If you’ve got a lot of surface area to cover, this Solar String Light Set gives you the longest available single string of solar powered lights on the list.
This string has 600 LED bulbs on a length of 206.7 feet of insulated wire. The lights have eight different modes including steady on, slow fade, twinkle, chasing, and sequential flash. These are controlled by a switch on the back of the solar panel.
While 200 feet of lights is a lot of deal with, it comes with two storage wheels, similar to the type you’d store a garden hose on, so you can unwind your lights to install them and then rewind them at the end of the season with less hassle.
You’ve got 9.9 feet of lead wire to the solar panel which gives you a decent amount of wiggle room for placing your panel in a good spot. The waterproof rating is IP44 meaning it is protected up to splashes of water from any direction so it can hold up to heavy rain without issue.
The lights have between eight and 12 hours of run time on a full charge although the listing doesn’t provide the mAh rating of the battery.
It’s a good choice for those looking to cover a tall outdoor Christmas tree or want to cover your house in solar lights with as few panels as possible.
If you love the classic icicle lights look but don’t want to deal with the electric bills or wires, you can now get the same effect with solar lights.
This 20-foot length of Solar Icicle Lights has 288 warm white LED bulbs. It’s lovely for your eaves, deck, balcony, or fencing though you’ll want to make sure you measure out how much length you need.
There are eight different flashing modes and a memory function saves the last mode you selected so you don’t have to re-choose your favorite mode when the lights automatically turn back on the next night.
It has a total length of 36 feet–20 feet of light and 16 feet of lead cord from the ground stake solar panel to the first lights. These extra feet of lead cord compared to other brands is very convenient.
You’re looking at eight to 12 hours of run time on a full charge.
The 20-foot length has 30 LED bulbs with colored snowflakes for a wintry look that works even after Christmas has come and gone. They’re a step up from the standard plain bulbs and will set you apart from your neighbors.
This is a good choice for apartment balconies and homes that are close to the street as you lose the snowflake shape from far away.
They come in multicolor featured above and well as in white.
For something a little more outside the box check that will turn heads out these Meteor Shower Lights that are powered by a small solar panel.
Meteor shower lights are wires strung with a series of hanging tubes. Each tube is just over a foot long with 36 LED bulbs per tube. When the lights turn on (triggered by sensing that it’s dark out) the lights in each tube flash in sequence from the top to the bottle of each tube, mimicking the look of a meteor falling to earth. You can see this type of light pattern in action in this YouTube video.
This set comes with 26 feet of wire that holds eight meteor tubes for a total of 288 LED bulbs. Eight tubes aren’t going to be enough to cover a house or large tree, so make sure you’re doing some measuring to get a sense of how many lights you’ll need.
The solar panel can be stuck in the ground with the included stake or screwed onto a wall using the built-in bracket. They come in warm white (featured above), cool white, blue, and multicolor.
For a unique take on Christmas lights, check out this String of Solar Powered Bottled Christmas Trees. This string of lights has 15 3.9-inch bottles with cork stoppers, each with a miniature colorful, flocked Christmas tree.
A single warm white LED light has been installed through the cork so when the lights turn on it will illuminate the tiny trees. They’re powered by a solar panel which will automatically turn on when it gets dark out and turn off at dawn. It’s not given how long this string of lights is.
For those who want their house lit up but are dreading getting out a ladder to install lighting on your home–you don’t have to. These Solar Powered Spotlights project colored lights onto your home without ever stepping on a ladder.
The spotlights have 18 LED bulbs on each light with nine different color options to select: red, green, dark blue, yellow, light blue, purple, white, a color-changing cycle of red to green to blue, and a color-changing cycle of all of the colors.
You can set up a pattern of red and green projectors or simply have a colorful shifting home lit up from below.
There are two installation options: a simple ground stake or a mounting bracket for mounting on a wall. The wall mount is nice for lighting walkways for the rest of the year.
The solar panel is highly adjustable to angle it toward the best sunlight and has a large battery capacity of 2,200 mAh so it should have no issue staying lit throughout the night.
It comes in sets of two projectors (featured above) or four projectors. These are also great for lighting up yard decorations like Christmas inflatables.
Looking for something a little unique? Check out these Gemstone Cut Faceted Solar Lights that have a chunkier hexagon shape to create a sparkle effect. Because they aren’t little round bulbs like most lights they’ll have more of a twinkling star look than a little dot of light.
You get a surprising amount of lights for this price. This string is 108 feet long with 300 LED lights. That’s significantly more than most. It comes with a good-size solar panel and a remote control that allows for easy control of all the functions.
Having to click through the buttons on the solar panel of most lights to control functions gets old in the winter, folks, so I love this. From the remote you can choose from eight flashing functions, four brightness settings, allowing for dimmer lights which is something you don’t see often, and a timer function.
If you don’t use the timer, the lights will turn on when it gets dark and turn off when the sun comes up, but if you feel like you only want the lights to run for three hours or five hours, then you can do that and then the next night, your lights will turn on at the same time and run for those same selected hours.
Rope lighting is easy to install and can hold up to rougher handling because the bulbs are encased in tubing making this a good choice for people with young children.
The rope style also has a slightly more diffuse look that makes the lights appear larger than the LED bulbs really are. Some people love this look and others don’t so it’s a matter of preference.
This lot comes with Two Sets of Rope Lighting, each 33 feet long with its own ground stake solar panel for a total of 200 LED bulbs and 66 feet of lighting. If you’re looking for a long length of lights or need the flashing patterns to be perfectly in sync, then this one probably isn’t for you.
You can get these sets in multi-color (featured above), cool white, and warm white. There are eight different flashing modes controlled by a button on the back of the solar panels but keep in mind that it will be tricky to get both sets flashing at exactly the same time.
The easily replaceable rechargeable battery can last all night on a full charge.
The multi-tone bulbs can produce up to three distinctly different colors–meaning this blue set can be bright blue, gold, or pink depending on your selection using the included remote control.
With the remote, you can adjust the colors to be steady on in each color or have the lights fading from one color to the next, alternating, or flashing different colors in a wave pattern. You don’t see a lot of houses where the flashing Christmas lights actually change color but these do, without all the wires or spike in electricity bills.
There are six different color combination strings of lights to choose from and you can pick the length that works for you in increments from 33 feet to 100 feet. The available color sets include the featured blue/gold/pink, green/gold/mixed, and red/gold/mixed.
They’re solidly waterproof for outdoor use but I wouldn’t throw the solar panel into the pool or anything.
For those who prefer working with more traditional wires instead of the easily tangled fairy light style, we have these Green-Wire Solar Lights.
Thicker wires make them much more familiar to deal with and store and the green color helps them blend into green and bushes.
This is a two-pack of lights each with its own solar panel and each string is 72 feet long with 200 LED bulbs on each string. They’re currently available in warm white.
There’s a button on the back that controls the eight different flashing modes. With the light sensor, the lights automatically go on when it gets dark.
For 2021, the battery power was upgraded from 1,200 mAh to 1,800 mAh so your lights can store a larger charge and last longer.
This 39-foot set of Classic Christmas String Lights have a longer bulb like traditional string lights but run on solar power from the included miniature solar panel.
The string has 100 LED lights and each bulb is about 1.5 inches long including glass and plastic fitting. These lights turn on automatically when it gets dark and have eight flashing modes to choose from.
Solar Net Lighting is a good choice if you have hedges or bushes you’d like to cover or if you’re looking to cover a large flat surface with neat-looking lights.
The beautiful thing about net lighting is that all the bulbs are evenly spaced in a perfect grid so you don’t have to mess around with placement like you would with a string of lights.
At 5 by 15 feet, this rectangle of lights is one of the largest solar sets that I’ve seen. It’s powered by the included solar panel and the brightness and eight flashing modes are controlled with the included remote control. It can also be set on a timer.
For those who like the look of icicle lights but want something a little more interesting, check out these Multicolor Dripping Lights.
They’re shaped to look like water droplets with dripping plastic tubes about three inches long. One LED bulb at the top of each drip illuminates the plastic for a softer, diffuse glow.
This is a 25.7-foot cord with 40 dripping LED lights with around seven or eight inches between each light. If you’re planning to cover a large area, make sure you’re taking measurements to get an estimate of how much you’ll need.
Eight flashing modes are controlled by a button on the back of the small solar panel included. These are available in warm white and multicolor.
These Individual Solar Christmas Bulb Clips don’t have any wires to deal with at all. Each bulb has its own built-in mini solar panel on the top of the bulb to collect sunlight.
These are perfect for hanging on trees or bushes because you don’t need to worry about having enough cord to reach the solar panel on the ground and you have complete freedom of how close or far apart you want your lights.
Once you switch them on once, the lights will automatically turn on when it gets dark and turn off at dawn.
Rope Lighting is perfect for outlining structures and decorations and these have some of the most vibrant colors on the list.
The multi-colored LEDs are wrapped in clear tubing for a diffuse glow and increased weatherproofing. It also makes them easier to handle and store compared to thinner fairy lights wire.
It’s a little shorter than some at only 33 feet long (with 100 LED bulbs in each strand) but they’re affordable and come in sets of two strands, each with its own efficient mini solar panel.
If you like the idea of solar lights but live in an area where you don’t get a lot of sunshine, check out this Drip String Light Set with Two-Way Charging which can be charged either by solar power or run by USB. That way you always have a backup if the weather is bad for several days in a row.
This cool rainbow drip light design has a nice icicle look to them and has eight light functions to choose from. Their two-way charging design is available in several different shapes and colors.
With these 21 best solar Christmas lights, you can create an unforgettable holiday light display this year without extension cords or higher electric bills.
