I got a camper out in Terlingua Ranch that has a bad invertor, was wondering if there was a cheap/easy way to charge a battery for the camper, like maybe a battery charger plugged into the generator or something like that. Any ideas would be great thanks.

Solar charger. Google it. Match it to your battery bank.

We tried a solor panel but it would only charge the battery long enough to use the lights in the camper for 30-45 min, we are even using a optima red top battery, so what size panel would be best?

Solar panel output is about 12 watts per square foot during peak sunlight. Take a lot of sq feet of panel to fully charge a battery and run any kind of continous load.
800AH 12v Battery = 13440 watt to fully charge



Plug in a 5 amp battery charger to a 110 VAC outlet or at generator. Some gens have a 12v output also. This will keep your battery charged up for occasional use such as water pump and 12v lights. If you have a lot of 12 volt load like a heater fan motor you may have to go to higher amp (20 -30 amp) Be carefull with higher amps as they will overheat and overcharge battery when there is no load.

thanks

to answer your question, OP, No, there is no cheap and easy way to do this


Solar can work but it will cost $$

I'd say, get a decent solar panel to keep the battery full, this would cost under $100 and then get a Honda 1000 Watt generator to run at night to compensate

I think you'd be under $750 or so

but I think a new inverter is under $500

What kind of 12v loads do you have
small light
cental heat fan?
water pump?

Mainly small lights don't really run the heater unless it is real cold.

And water pump if someone needs a shower.

NWTH, OK your way out in the brush.
Set up for that.
The way I used to do that is:
Heat-- Mr. Buddy and 20lb propane tank sitting outside.
Kept no water in system. Brought bottled to cook with and drink. You can survive without the shower for a few days, promise.
What I did on the battery is had two-Used one at lease, took the other one home and charged each time I went out. Worked like a charm. Just take you battery home with you each time you leave, charge it, then bring it back. Not hard.
Nothing really needs to be used in the trailer except the lights, bed, stove. Toilet--save a few 1 gal water jugs, use some of that to flush. Fill them up while at home.
Keep it simple.

Used to have a floating camp in Louisiana with 12 volt lights, water pump, and inverter for TV/satellite dish.

We only ran the generator at night for AC. Connected 2-12 volt batteries in parallel to 12 volt system and battery charger. Everytime generator was fired up, batteries were charged.

We could watch TV, flush toilets, run water, all day long and never ran down the batteries. Used to run them down when using 1 only, but never ran them down when we added a second battery.

Just don't connect them in series and you'll get more use out of a single charge.

Replace all the filament bulbs in your camper with LED bulbs; there are ones available that are just as bright or brighter than filament bulbs, but use 1/10 the amount of power, and let you retain your existing fixtures.

I thought my inverter was dead but it turned out the breaker it was on was bad. It was a 5 dollar fix. might check it.