Siemens SENTRON 3VA1216-5MH32-0BA0 — 160 A MCCB with undervoltage release
Breaking capacity is the headline here: 187 kA at 240 V, 121 kA at 415 V, 30 kA at 440 V, and 17 kA at 690 V. That 187 kA at 240 V is a monster number — it means this breaker can sit upstream in a high-fault panel where the available short-circuit current is extreme, and still clear a bolted fault without welding its contacts shut. At 415 V, the 121 kA rating still covers most industrial transformer-fed busways. The thermal-magnetic TM120M release gives you a fixed thermal pickup at 160 A and a magnetic trip that responds to short-circuit currents. No electronic adjustability here — set it and forget it. If you need adjustable long-time or short-time delays, you'd be looking at the electronic trip variants in the 3VA family. An undervoltage release (UVR) is integrated as standard — the auxiliary trip module is order code 3VA9608-0BB11. This means the breaker automatically opens when the control voltage drops below a threshold, which is useful for safety circuits or coordinated shutdown sequences. No auxiliary contacts are fitted from the factory, so if you need status feedback to a PLC, you'll add them separately.
Current derating and thermal management
The 160 A rating holds flat from 40 °C through 50 °C — no derating needed in a typical 40 °C panel ambient. Above that, it steps down: 153.6 A at 55 °C, 150.4 A at 60 °C, 147.2 A at 65 °C, and 144 A at 70 °C. If your panel runs hot (say, a crowded enclosure near a furnace line), you'll need to account for that 10 % drop at the top end. The IP40 front face keeps dust out of the mechanism, but the breaker relies on convection through the enclosure — don't bury it in a sealed box without checking the internal temperature rise.
Dimensions and panel fit
Footprint: 105 mm wide, 158 mm tall, 70 mm deep. That depth is the key number for panel depth planning — 70 mm means it fits in a standard 200 mm deep enclosure with room for wiring gutters behind it. The width is a standard 3-pole MCCB form factor, so it'll drop into a mounting plate cutout sized for SENTRON 3VA frames. No special adapter brackets needed for most Siemens panelboards.
Motor switching capability
Rated operating power at AC-3 duty (400 V) is 55 W. That's not a motor-starting rating — it's the switching power for the auxiliary circuit. The breaker itself is a feeder protection device, not a motor starter. For motor branch circuits, pair it with a contactor and overload relay upstream or downstream as the coordination study dictates.