IMO - The alternator fuse should be sized to protect the cable, and if alternator to battery, should be near the battery. Alternator fusing is an interesting topic that nobody seems to address, but I'll ramble about that later.
And good - so I was correct in assuming you were going to do the "obvious" upgrades... Not that that excuses me from not emphasising that in my first reply (the big-3 etc) - unless your upgrade intent and knowledge was obvious. (Geez OldFart, maybe I should just re-read the original post!)
But yes - other than where the higher currents could run - ie, from alternator to battery, and (therefore) all the grounds (alt/battery/body/chassis) - there is no change to the rest of your system.
A bigger load (audio etc) will require +12V & GND cabling to suit its power requirements. It is assumed that that is taken car of in its own right (hence upgraded battery-body-alternator grounds for it).
Your traditional radio and lights and whatever still take the same current they always did.
Ok - in reality, maybe a bit more if your old alternator couldn't keep up its (say) 14.2V output that the bigger alternator can, but that is merely the loads getting what they should be getting (and they should tolerate 15V if not 16V etc).
The main point being that a bigger alternator cannot "push" more current into the same old loads.
Current is determined by voltage and resistance. The load resistance hasn't changed, the voltage should be the same, therefore the current should be the same. I = V/R (from V=IR - Ohm's Law).
I'll leave it there.
The following rambles are optional.... (LOL!) They expand the above, and include the unthinkable - a car battery with incorrectly labelled polarity!!
Ramble #1:
Though obvious, that "bigger power source" can be tricky to comprehend (whether it be a bigger alternator or battery).
I like to analogize with water...
You have a full water tank with a tap 1 meter (~3') down from the top. You open the tap and get a certain water flow - ie, a pressure that - thru that tap size - supplies water at a certain rate.
You order your partner to expand the tank in preparation for the coming drought. She, or he, digs & builds for a while.
You know have a tank that holds the Pacific Ocean (desalinated of course!). Ok, I exaggerate, let's assume it's just the Hoover Dam.
The same tap is still 1M down from the water surface.
The tap still produces the same water flow.
Even though there is the entire capacity (mass or volume) of the Hoover or whatever behind that tap, the tap still sees the same pressure (1 meter down) as it would in a fish tank (also 1m down).
Hence no effect on the rate of flow.
Voltage is the "pressure".
Current is the flow or flow rate - the amount per unit time.
The resistance is the tap - the size of the restriction.
So the same amount of current (water) will flow whether it's a fish tank or the Pacific Ocean.
The same current will flow whether it's a 160A or 16000A alternator.
Same if from a 100AH or 100000AH battery.
Mind you, a bigger battery can accept more charge (from the alternator) than a smaller one...
/end ramble #1
Ramble #2 - Alternator fusing
Alternator fusing (usually to the battery) is IMO an interesting topic.
AFAIK cars never used to have it. Then in the 1970s , they began inserting fusible links between the alternator and battery.
But the sizing was strange - often with ~20A flinks for 45A alternators etc.
I began asking why.
I got every combination - ie, to protect the alternator; to protect the alternator power diodes in case of reverse-connection of the battery; to protect the battery; and sometimes even to protect the cable (but in that case, shouldn't there be 2 fuses - one at each end?).
My sensical conclusion was, that if required, the alternator-battery fuse was:
- to protect the cable from the battery (as per normal fusing practice).
- it shouldn't be to protect the cable from the alternator unless the cable is underrated - an alternator should limit its current to not much above its maximum rated current if that. (If higher, then add an alternator-end fuse.)
IMO it was not to protect the alternator.
In cases of over-current, the alternator should self limit (due to its electro-magnetic behaviour, saturation, back-EMF, and good design with appropriately rated diodes).
In cases of reverse-polarity battery connection, I generally found that fuses did not help - fused (protected) diodes blew whilst un-fused diodes survived. (More below.)
More recently I found that nothing protects a Bosch alternator - specifically those from the 1980s & 1990s. Even a flat battery would blow the Bosch power diodes. I hence learned that the old bullsh spouse tale to "
keep the jumper battery connected for a while after jump starting (to prevent alternator damage)" was in fact not bullsh.
My 1960s-1970s Japanese vehicles have no flink. (In fact the first fuse is ~2m away diagonally opposite in the engine bay!)
The battery is next to the alternator.
IMO, their alt-battery "protection" is the same as the battery-starter cable - it is physical protection or security rather than electrical.
It is assumed that with adequate insulation, secure routing and termination, a fault/short will not occur. (Or they figured the lead battery terminals is the "fuse" protection.)
I have never had a blown power diode to my knowledge.
A few years ago a mate with the same 1966 car as mine rang for help. He had a new battery but it "sparked" when he connected it.
Some 2,000km later I arrived at the scene. Sure enough, sparks. Everything looked good. No alternator diodes were shorted.
But the battery terminals were incorrectly labelled! This was a typical plastic-cased lead-acid battery with + & - clearly molded next to the terminals. But they were WRONG!
We reversed the connections (so it seemed he had a +ve chassis vehicle) and everything was fine.
But what got me was that after SEVERAL reverse connections to this unfused alternator, the alternator appeared to be ok. (She charged fine and I could not detect any dropped output nor high AC content.) Yet alternators that were fused often blew their main diodes at the sniff of a reverse connection.
Granted - it's a 25A alternator versus my sampled 45A - 100A Bosch alternators, but it was 1965 componentry. And 12V through a 25A alternator's diode should be more destructive than for 110A alternators! (All being typical 0.6V silicons.)
Anyhow, 2 rambles to scare the crud out of those that merely see the bulk of text.
But a valuable lesson that NEW components can be faulty - ie, a car battery with incorrectly case-molded polarity! IE - never assume ANYTHING!
And IMO an interesting saga as to why people think things are done despite obvious self contradictions, or a case of how "someone though it was a good idea", and everyone has since followed - despite all the problems it causes.