Inrush current limiter 230V AC 16A (~325V DC 3,6kW ) - low power losses - safe
I do use this http://electronics-diy.com/soft-start-for-power-supply.php for toroid transformer, part of dc bus for stepper motor drivers. It works great. The basic idea is to limit the inrush current due to magnetization and also due to large capacitor that is discharged at begining. ou can use similar circuit to slowly charge the capacitor and then to switch to operation. A good way to go would be using another pair of contacts of the relay, disconnecting the load.
1. the relay is open: resistors limit the current to the cap, load is disconnected
2. at certain delay, the relay closes and bypass the resistors, while the other contacts connect the load.