What this MCCB does on a real line
The Siemens 3VA1116-5EE32-0AH0 is a SENTRON molded case circuit breaker (MCCB) rated for line protection — meaning it sits at the feeder or main distribution point, not downstream at a motor or branch circuit. Three poles, 160 A continuous at 40 °C, with a TM220 thermal-magnetic release that handles overload and short-circuit trip curves without an external control signal. Breaking capacity is the headline here: 187 kA at 240 V, 121 kA at 415 V, 75.6 kA at 440 V, and still 17 kA at 690 V. That 187 kA figure at 240 V means it can interrupt a fault current up to 187,000 A without welding contacts or rupturing the case — critical for high-fault panels near large transformers or utility feeds. Rated insulation voltage is 800 V, so it's comfortable on 480/277 V and 600 V systems with margin. The 38 W maximum power loss at rated load matters for enclosure heat buildup — if you're packing several of these in a panel, that's real heat to vent.
Thermal derating — the number that actually governs your ampacity
This breaker holds 160 A flat from 40 °C through 50 °C. At 55 °C it drops to 158 A, at 60 °C to 155 A, at 65 °C to 153 A, and at 70 °C to 150 A. That's a gentle slope — only 10 A lost over a 30 °C rise — so you don't need to oversize for a warm enclosure. The operating range is -25 °C to 70 °C; storage range is -40 °C to 80 °C.
Panel fit and auxiliaries
Dimensions are 130 mm high, 76.2 mm wide, 70 mm deep — a 3-inch wide footprint that fits standard Siemens SENTRON mounting patterns. The breaker ships with 2 auxiliary switches plus 1 trip alarm switch (HQ type) pre-installed, so you get remote status and trip indication without ordering add-on modules separately. A trip indicator is built in — visual flag on the front tells you it tripped on fault vs manual off. No undervoltage release, no ground-fault monitoring, no communication function on this variant. It's a straight line-protection MCCB with the TM220 release.