As best as I can remember, I bought these lights at Walmart last year when they had them on sale for like 5 bucks. They are 12 ft I'm not sure how many lights are in the strand. They use 3 AA batteries. What I do normally, since they are cheap lights, I just sort a twist them in place and don't secure them because I figure whomever may want a different color or if they do break, they can change them out. I have never had any luck using hot glue. I hear it does good but I can't ever seem to make it hold.