[Kurt in NJ]

The owners instruction book states that the ammeter will show discharge with the headlights on.
what wattage bulb do you have in the dash light, it should be a small wattage bulb like the tail light, not the higher wattage of stop light bulb.
as long as the generator puts more into the battery than is taken out the discharge with the headlights on doesn’t matter, the owners instruction book says to check the state of charge in the battery, if it goes down increase charging rate, if it uses too much water decrease charging rate