What this MCCB carries — and what it means for your panel
The Siemens 3VA1163-6EF36-0CC0 is a 3-pole SENTRON molded case circuit breaker (MCCB) designed for line protection — the primary feeder or branch breaker that sits between the transformer and the distribution bus. Rated 63 A at 40 °C, it holds that full rating up to 50 °C, then derates to 62 A at 55 °C, 61 A at 60 °C, 60 A at 65 °C, and 58 A at 70 °C — useful if the breaker lives in a hot enclosure or next to other heat sources. The 220 kA breaking capacity at 240 V and 154 kA at 415 V mean it can interrupt very high fault currents without upstream fuses or a bigger breaker; at 690 V it still clears 17 kA. That SCCR headroom is what lets you coordinate downstream without cascading failures. This unit ships with an undervoltage release (UVR) and two auxiliary switches (HQ design) factory-installed — the UVR trips the breaker when control voltage drops below a threshold, which is standard for emergency-stop circuits or undervoltage protection on motor feeders. The auxiliary switches give status feedback (open/closed) to a PLC or indication lamp without needing a separate contactor block. Insulation voltage is rated 800 V, so the breaker is comfortable on 690 V systems with margin. No communication module, no ground-fault monitoring — this is a straight line-protection MCCB with a UVR and aux contacts. If you need ground-fault or Modbus, you're looking at a different variant in the 3VA family.
Panel fit and mounting
Dimensions: 130 mm height, 76.2 mm width (3 inches), 70 mm depth. That 3-inch width is the standard 3-pole MCCB footprint — it fits existing SENTRON mounting plates and most DIN-rail adapters without panel rework. The 70 mm depth leaves room for rear-connected busbars or cable ladders behind the breaker. Power loss at full load is 19.8 W — factor that into enclosure thermal calculations if the panel is tightly packed.
Selectivity and coordination note
With 220 kA at 240 V and 154 kA at 415 V, this breaker gives you full selectivity against most downstream 10 kA or 18 kA rated MCBs and MCCBs — the upstream breaker stays closed for a fault on the load side, so only the faulted branch drops out. That's the main reason to spec this over a lower-breaking variant: if your available fault current at the panel is above 65 kA, this is the one that holds.