The Siemens SENTRON 3VA1196-4GE46-0AA0 is a 4-pole molded case circuit breaker (MCCB) rated for 16 A continuous, with a TM220 thermal-magnetic trip unit — fixed thermal and fixed magnetic, no adjustment dials. That means what you order is what protects the circuit; no field tweaking the trip curve. Breaking capacity hits 121 kA at 240 V AC, dropping to 75.6 kA at 415 V, 52.5 kA at 440 V, and 11.9 kA at 500 V and 690 V — so it handles high-fault scenarios on the low-voltage side and still clears at 690 V.
Sizing and thermal derating
Rated 16 A from 40 °C up to 55 °C ambient; derates to 15 A at 60–70 °C. If your panel runs hot — say, crowded with drives or transformers — you lose 1 A above 55 °C. That's a real constraint for a panel OEM pushing fill factor. Power loss is 10.6 W maximum at rated load. Small enough that ventilation isn't critical for this one breaker, but in a dense panel with a dozen of these, the heat adds up.
Panel fit and protection class
Dimensions: 130 mm high, 101.6 mm wide, 70 mm deep. The 4-pole width (101.6 mm, or 4 inches) is standard for a 4-pole MCCB — it'll drop into a panel cutout designed for a 4-pole SENTRON frame without surprises. IP40 on the front means it's protected against tools and wires >1 mm, but not against dust ingress or water; keep it inside a rated enclosure.
No undervoltage release, no communication function, no ground-fault monitoring — this is a bare line-protection MCCB. If you need those add-ons, you're looking at a different variant in the 3VA family. Trip indicator is also absent; you'll know it tripped only by checking downstream load or the handle position.