The 24 VDC coil draws its rated holding current at 0.85 of nominal voltage and picks up reliably at 1.1× the rated value — standard margins for industrial DC control circuits. Coil switching times fall in the 7 to 10 ms range for DC operation, with arcing duration between 10 and 15 ms, which matters when coordinating with upstream semiconductor outputs or fast PLC cycles. The contactor is rated for operation up to 2,000 m altitude without derating, and ambient temperature range during operation is -25 to +60 °C, with storage from -55 to +80 °C.
DC switching capability across the voltage range
Unlike many contactors that only publish AC ratings, the 3RT1516-1BP40 carries explicit DC-1 switching currents across a broad voltage span: 10 A at 24 V, 6 A at 230 V, 3 A at 400 V, 2 A at 60 V, 1 A at 110 V, 0.8 A at 440 V, and 0.3 A at 220 V. These are the currents the main contacts can break under resistive DC loads — critical for battery-backed systems, DC bus switching, or solar combiner boxes where AC ratings don't apply. The auxiliary contacts (1 NO + 1 NC) are each rated 9 A, adequate for signaling back to a PLC or driving smaller contactor coils.
Termination and wiring capacity
Main power circuit connections use screw-type terminals accepting 2× (0.5 to 1.5 mm²), 2× (0.75 to 2.5 mm²), or up to 2× (0.75 to 4 mm²) solid or stranded conductors. The maximum wire size at the AC-1 rating is 2.5 mm².