Soft transformer turn on without a variac

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Original poster: "Peter Terren by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <pterren-at-iinet-dot-net.au>

Hi all.
For my 5 kW museum 
coil, 
<http://members.iinet-dot-net.au/~pterren/Scitech.htm>http://members.iinet-dot-net.au/~pterren/Scitech.htm 
,   I need to have a single switch for turn on preferably without a variac 
to keep things simple for the staff.  The present system has solid state 
relays but is complicated and unreliable. I need to turn on the motor first 
then a couple of seconds later soft turn on the power to the transformer. 
Even switching  on power to a normal variac gives a spike that will trip my 
lower current breakers. The whole system will have to be electrically 
quiet.  Does anyone have experience with inrush limiters or have other 
suggestions?

Cheers
Peter (Tesla Downunder)