160 A MCCB with TM210 trip — what the ratings mean for your panel
The Siemens SENTRON 3VA1116-5GD42-0AA0 is a 4-pole molded case circuit breaker rated 160 A continuous, with a TM210 thermal-magnetic trip unit. That 160 A holds flat from 40 °C up to 50 °C ambient — no derating needed in a warm enclosure — then eases to 150 A at 70 °C. The interrupting capacity is the headline: 187 kA at 240 V, 121 kA at 415 V, 75.6 kA at 440 V, and still 17 kA at 690 V. That means it can sit upstream of a high-fault panel without needing a current-limiting fuse ahead of it — the breaker itself clears the fault. The 4-pole design covers three-phase plus neutral, common for North American and some European distribution schemes where the neutral needs switching.
Panel fit and integration — 70 mm depth, 101.6 mm width
The breaker measures 70 mm deep, 101.6 mm wide, and 130 mm tall. That 70 mm depth is shallow enough for most standard distribution panels — it won't crowd the gland plate or force a deeper enclosure. The 101.6 mm width (4 inches) is the standard 4-pole MCCB footprint; it occupies four 25.4 mm pole positions on the DIN rail or mounting plate. Front face is IP40 rated — protected against tools and wires over 1 mm, but not sealed against moisture, so keep it inside the panel, not in a washdown zone.
Power loss and thermal management — 38 W at full load
Maximum power loss is 38 W at rated current. That's the heat the breaker dumps into the enclosure at 160 A. In a multi-breaker panel, sum the losses and check the cabinet's dissipation — 38 W per pole is manageable, but a dense lineup of six or eight breakers can push a small enclosure past its thermal limit. The TM210 trip unit is thermal-magnetic: the thermal element handles overloads, the magnetic element handles short circuits. No undervoltage release, no ground-fault monitoring, no communication function — this is a straight line-protection breaker, not a smart or remote-trip device.