What the ratings mean for your panel
The Siemens SENTRON 3VA1216-4EF32-0KC0 is a 3-pole molded case circuit breaker rated for 160 A continuous current. That 160 A holds flat from 40 °C up to 50 °C — no derating needed in a typical warm panel. At 55 °C it's still 155.6 A, and at 70 °C it's 142.4 A. The TM240 thermal-magnetic release handles the overload and short-circuit curve, so you set the thermal pickup to match your feeder or load. Breaking capacity is what decides whether this breaker holds on a fault or vents. At 240 V it clears 121 kA; at 415 V it's 75.6 kA; at 440 V it's 25 kA; at 690 V it's 11.9 kA. That's a high-interrupting rating for a 160 A frame — it gives you selectivity headroom upstream of a transformer or a large motor branch without stepping up to a bigger breaker. Rated insulation voltage is 800 V, so it's comfortable on 480 V or 600 V class systems with margin. The front face carries IP40 protection — fine for a closed panel, but not for washdown areas. Mounts on a DIN rail or direct panel; the 70 mm depth leaves room for gland plates and wiring troughs behind it.
Built-in auxiliaries and trip options
This version ships with 2 auxiliary switches HQ (high-quantity) and a shunt trip release (STL) — the shunt trip is the integrated auxiliary release design. The shunt trip order code is 3VA9688-0BL33; if you're ordering spares or a replacement coil, that's the number to match. No undervoltage release, no ground-fault monitoring, no communication module on this variant. The trip indicator is not fitted on this unit — if you need a visual flag that the breaker has tripped remotely, you'd spec a different version or add an external indication. Phase failure detection is also absent, so this is a straight line-protection breaker, not a motor-protection device with phase-loss sensing.
Environmental and compliance range
Operating temperature spans -25 °C to 70 °C; storage range is -40 °C to 80 °C. The storage max is the handling limit — don't leave it in a hot warehouse truck in summer, but it'll survive. Reference code per DIN EN 81346-2 is Q, for switchgear.