Suddenly no juice

I don't know what YOU are thinking but that IS the case. All the alternator supplies goes through that link.
Don't you mean all of the battery charging current supplied from the alternator goes through this link? (Which indeed could be somewhat near to the max alternator amperage with the alternator cold and battery near dead.) Per the schematics, a lot of (most of) the loads don't flow via this link when running off of the alternator.