Siemens SENTRON 3VA1220-4EF42-0JH0 — 200 A MCCB with Shunt Trip
The Siemens SENTRON 3VA1220-4EF42-0JH0 is a 4-pole molded case circuit breaker rated 200 A continuous at 40 °C, designed for line protection in distribution panels and motor control centers. It carries a 121 kA interrupting capacity at 240 VAC, stepping down through 75.6 kA at 415 V, 52.5 kA at 440 V, 17 kA at 500 V, and 11.9 kA at 690 V — a curve that tells you this breaker is built for high-fault industrial services where the available short-circuit current is substantial at lower voltages. Thermal derating is modest up to 50 °C (still 200 A), then drops to 194 A at 55 °C, 188 A at 60 °C, 182 A at 65 °C, and 176 A at 70 °C. If your panel ambient runs above 50 °C, you lose roughly 3 % per 5 °C increment — plan your load margin accordingly. Rated insulation voltage is 800 V, so it's comfortable in 480 V and 600 V class systems with headroom. The 4-pole configuration suits three-phase plus neutral switching, common in North American and European distribution where the neutral must be switched with the phases.
Auxiliary Configuration and Releases
This variant ships with a shunt trip release (STL) for remote tripping, plus 2 auxiliary switches and 1 trip alarm switch (HQ). The shunt trip lets a PLC, safety relay, or E-stop circuit open the breaker without an operator pulling the handle — essential for emergency-off circuits or interlocked disconnects. The auxiliary switches provide status feedback (open/closed) to the control system; the trip alarm switch signals that the breaker opened on a fault, not manually. Power loss at rated load is 42 W maximum — a useful number for enclosure thermal calculations, especially in sealed or high-density panels where every watt of dissipation matters.
Environmental and Mounting
Operating temperature range is -25 °C to 70 °C; storage range is -40 °C to 80 °C. The 70 mm depth, 140 mm width, and 158 mm height fit standard SENTRON 3VA panel footprints — it occupies the same cutout as other 3VA 4-pole frames in the 200 A class, so a panel laid out for a 160 A unit accepts this without re-drilling.