Generator hands down. Lots less hassle, lots more juice.

I have a solar system I put at my house for back up power and to run my pellet stove. It's a 560 watt array and will run my pellet stove, refrigerator, and living main floor area lights. I spent about $1700 on the panels, batteries, and inverter and put it together myself. It's maintenance free (except for cleaning snow off the panels) and always available. The new solar panels will charge batteries even on overcast days. The only time I don't get charging is on very cloudy, snowy, rainy days. My electric bill is about 70% less than it used to be...I don't run the washer, dryer, or gas furnace off the solar. (There's a long story with a lot of cost-benefit analysis as to why my whole house isn't solar.)

The benefit of solar is not needing to worry about refueling, noise, not getting it starting when needed, etc. Actually , there's no starting it at all. The power is always available. As far as cost, I think you won't spend much more for a solar system than a generator. A 250 watt system should be more than enough. There's a lot of information on putting a DIY solar system on a camper and there several companies that sell systems. If you's somewhat handy you can do it youself and save some money. If you're just looking to run a few lights, charge a laptop, ect. solar is simpler.

FB, my biggest concern with solar is the length of payback. Solar panels and battery banks are supposed to have about a ten year life span. If I went all electric, including heat, it would cost me about $8000 - $10,000 if I did all the work myself (I have a friend who's an electrician and makes sure I'm meeting code). Looking at my electric bill, I'm not sure it would make sense in terms of paying for itself but I like the idea of being off the grid. I also looked at a professionally installed system tied into the grid but the electric companies pay you next to nothing for anything you put back in...they make it a disincentive. It doesn't pay for itself.

The other issue is the weather here. We get some long stretches of snowy days here in December-February. I think I would have to draw from the grid sometimes during the winter. I have to do this now sometimes with my small system.

Mentioning solar though, I've also cut my natural gas use to almost zero by putting passive solar heaters on the south outer wall of my house. For less than $500 in materials, I was able to build them myself (lots of plans on the Internet). They move air using two solar powered fans with thermostats. On a sunny winter day with outside temperatures in the teen's they can warm the house to the upper 50's - low 60's. I use wood pellets to heat at night or to bring the temperature up during the day.

I also have an outdoor passive solar shower that we use in the summer. (plans on the Internet).

What I'm going to do this summer is add another two panels and two more batteries to my bank. This should allow me to basically use zero electric most of the year and run the well and washer/dryer. My investment will be about $3700 total.

Basically, if you're a little handy and a little creative you can do a lot with solar and have it make economic sense. But, I think as the panels continue to get better and come down in price, we'll see more people going to all solar systems.

Deep cycle batteries for a solar system have a life span of between 6 and 9 years. We have checked on a system for our hunting cabin. One of the owners is an electrician and an industrial maintenance instructor at a Voc. School and is well versed on the benefits and drawbacks. To run appliances it would cost us too much for the panels and the batteries. If we go with anything solar it will just be for lights. Right now we have an antique gas motor with the big cast iron wheel that charges up our deep cycle batteries. We have 32 volt DC lights in the camp. We may have to do something because our old motor is almost 90 years old.