What it is and what it does
The Siemens SENTRON 3VA2163-6HL36-0KH0 is a 3-pole molded case circuit breaker (MCCB) rated for 63 A continuous current across the full ambient range from 40 °C to 70 °C — no derating needed up to that ceiling. It's designed for line protection, meaning it sits at the incoming feed to protect cables and busbars from short-circuit and overload, not motor or branch-circuit duty. The interrupting capacity is the headline: 242 kA at 240 V, 187 kA at 415 V and 440 V, 121 kA at 500 V, and 3.7 kA at 690 V. Those numbers tell you this breaker can handle high-fault locations like a transformer secondary or a large panel main.
Built-in accessories and fit
This variant ships with a factory-installed shunt trip (STL) release and a set of 2 auxiliary switches plus 1 trip alarm switch (HQ). That means you get remote tripping capability and status feedback out of the box — no field-assembly of add-on modules. The base switch variant is 3VA2163-6HL36-0AA0, so the -0KH0 suffix adds the shunt trip and auxiliary contacts at the factory. The breaker measures 105 mm wide, 181 mm tall, and 86 mm deep — standard 3-pole MCCB footprint for a SENTRON 3VA frame. It mounts on a DIN rail or panel-mount baseplate; plan for the 86 mm depth when routing busbars or cables behind it.
Operating conditions and power loss
Rated for operation from -25 °C to 70 °C ambient, with storage from -40 °C to 80 °C. Maximum power loss at rated current is 4 W — low enough that ventilation in a standard enclosure is sufficient. The trip indicator and voltage trigger are present, so you get visual and electrical trip indication. No undervoltage release, no ground-fault monitoring, no communication function on this order code — it's a straightforward line-protection breaker with shunt trip and aux contacts.