We usually have to rely on mains powered lights at Christmas time in the UK because of the lack of sunshine, but these Endurance solar icicle lights are designed to work in winter. As long as you locate the powerful 300m Ah polycrystaline solar panel facing south, or as near south as possible you should get some LED christmas cheer without running up your electricity bill. & even if the sun decides not to show itself at all, you can simply detach the solar panel from the light string & bring it indoors (no need to take down your lights) for a quick charge direct from your computer, as it comes with a separate USB (Universal Serial Bus) charger. Another great feature of these lights is that you can switch them on & off simply via the panel, so you can choose to switch the lights on when you want & not have them come on automatically when the sun goes down at 4.00pm in winter. The length of illumination is 1.7m long with 17 strings of icicles that dangle down each having 6 LEDs. The length of each icicle (stretched out) is Approx. 43cm. Solar panel 300m A Battery Ni-Mh 1.2V AA 1000m Ah (included)LED number 102 bright white (17 drops of 6 LEDs) Cable length 2.2m from solar panel to start of lights, length of icicles approx 43cm, lit length 1.7m 8 Modes 1. Steady On, 2. Slow Glow, 3. Fast Twinkling, 4. Slow Twinkling, 5. Flashing in Series, 6. Flashing in Reverse Series, 7. Fast Flashing in Series, 8. Slow Flashing in Series, 6. Flashing in Reverse Series, 7. Fast Flashing in Series, 8. Slow Flashing in Series followed by Reverse Series