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No, I'm not suggesting alternator is putting out full power all the time. Loads are loads regardless of the alternator size. You don't pull less amps just because the alternator is smaller. The field is adjusted so that all loads are attempted to be met by the alternator. If you have 100A load on a 100A alternator, no problem. But keep all that load and swap for a 60A and 2 things will happen: the alternator will overheat and you will drain the battery. I did not feel it necessary to explain that a 50A load would be ok on a 60A alternator, that should be obvious. A 60A alternator try to do 100A is going to overheat, which means lower efficiency, which means more strain on the engine, not less. Though it might be putting out 65A (and rapidly declining) the strain on the engine would be similar to that of a 100A alternator that is actually putting out 100A
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