The battery charges - understandably - in cloudy weather or not hardly, it is not for nothing that solar string light. Therefore I do not understand some reviews that complain. The focal length of this string of lights is now amazingly long, because in the morning the lights still burn, so I do not know from my other lights. Unfortunately, not all have a longer "life", so I hope this brings me more joy than the other lights that I already had. Now she's only been 6 weeks in use.