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The following is from the publication of the Bais Din of Crown Heights:

It is the Chabad custom to fill the menorah with sufficient 
fuel to burn for at least fifty minutes, so that it remains lit for 
half an hour after nightfall.
The Rebbe strongly emphasized the importance of lighting 
the menorah in its proper time, before tzeis ha-kochavim, 
and also with regard to mivtza Chanukah—encouraging and 
facilitating the lighting of a menorah on time by as many 
Jews as possible. See below for more details
If you are unable to light the menorah before the time for 
Maariv, you should first recite Maariv and only then light 
your menorah.
 Below is an excerpt from Sichas Motzoei Shabbos Vayeishev, Ohr L’chof 
Kislev, 5739 (taken from a recording of the Rebbe’s address). See the original 
sicha for the full message.
“The main thing is the action … It is readily apparent that in order to light 
the Chanukah lights in their appropriate time, we must make all of the 
necessary preparations in advance, on erev Chanukah. Otherwise, we may 
end up dragging the lighting to beyond sundown. How much more of an 
absolute necessity it is to consider, out of ahavas Yisrael, ways in which 
our fellow Jews might be enabled to light the Chanukah lights in the exact 
way that we do (kemocha)—in the same manner we conduct advance 
preparations.
“To achieve this, we must devote our time on erev Chanukah to the 
Chanukah campaign, with enormous effort and energy, and go all out for 
this goal … We cannot allow ourselves to rationalize that if we are unable to 
reach out to an individual in time to ensure that he lights before sundown 
on the first night of Chanukah, we can always do so in time for the second or 
third night. Or that even if we reach out for the first night, we are satisfied if 
he lights before chatzos, or while members of his household are still awake, 
and so on, based on the details specified in halachah. Such an approach 
is entirely misplaced and misguided regarding any of the mitzvos, and 
certainly for the mitzvah of the Chanukah lights.”