Can I safely use a bus bar to distribute ignition power?

I am trying to distribute an ignition live feed to 8+ circuits. I was thinking that a bus bar might be the best approach for this. There are quite a few options and several of them have the live feed wire attaching on a post that is uncovered. Is it safe to use a style of bus bar like this behind a dash or should the entire bus bar fully covered? I was specifically looking at sealed bus bars.

It will depend on your specific application, but it should be perfectly safe, it's little different from a pass-through or other component with a bolt on terminal.

You may be able to use a protective, insulating cap on the exposed terminal, depending on thread length, such as https://www.amazon.com.au/s?k=battery+terminal+caps&ref=mr_referred_us_au_nz

Matt, you may consider using something like the Eaton Bussman 15305-1-2-4 fuse holder box. It's a weather-sealed (capable, depending on proper assembly) dual-bussed fuse box with a total of 20 fusable outputs. The box works by inputting power to one or both of the studs at the bottom of the box, where it passes the current through individual fuses, then back out the bottom of the box to whatever pins you pin it to.

This document is a technical drawing/information sheet from Eaton themselves. The boxes utilize Delphi Metri-pak 280 series female tang-less terminals. (Part numbers for all the terminals, wire seals, and cavity plugs are on the technical doc.)

I'm utilizing two of the 5 Relay/10 Fuse boxes for my project.

They also have other box configurations if you want the box to handle more than just fuses.

Thanks Jeremy and Gord.

Jeremy...I do like the look of that Bussman box. I'm trying to maintain a more stock look for my 1988 Land Rover Defender but I've been building my own harness to clean up the dodgy wiring issues...adding a few more relays and deleting unneeded circuits. I'm honestly not sure how to make that box fit the stock location and maintain a more classic look.

Gord...each of the circuits should pull no more than 15A max.

Eaton makes a variety of different power distribution products. Honestly I'm still learning about all of them. I have seen some that look more factory than others.

Here's someone's Jeep with one of the boxes installed (right-hand side of the engine bay in the photo)

Also worth mentioning, if you have multiple accessories that are pulling 15 amps, you should probably try to fuse them in some way instead of just running them directly from a bus bar.

These are all going to be running through a fuse box but was thinking the buss bar to distribute to each of the fused circuits.

this fuse panel is mounted to the interior side of the center of the bulkhead behind the shifter.

Ah, minor confusion there, that link should have sent you to options for protective insulating covers for your terminals, so they're not exposed.

As Jeremy said, there are many options for fuse boxes, with differing relay options, available, and they will often have internal 'bus bars' options. You should find something that suits your requirements, even if it means using two of them - which might make packaging easier?

Yes, a buss bar will work.

What I will sometimes do, is use Deutsch bussed connectors. use the ignition feed to a pin and then have separate feeds to each device, which can be helpful for troubleshooting/diagnostics later, if there is an issue, or if you want to add or remove a device later as well. They are made from 3 pin to 12 pin in a variety of bussed configurations.

Thanks Chris. That’s one of the devices I was specifically looking at.

the power in bolt is uncovered. Is this something that I should be trying to cover in some way w one of the battery style terminals mentioned above or have you just left that terminal open?

The one's I'm talking about don't have the tab, they are just bussed DT connectors.

If this works, like this one (but other pin counts available as well); https://www.buydeutsch.com/cdn/shop/products/DT04-12PB-P030_Back.jpg?v=1597687139&width=1214