Soft start for a 24V Linear Actuator?

[habermanm]

Short Version: What is a good way to soft start my motor by ramping up current?

Details:

I bought a electronic reclining chair a while back for cheap because it was missing the power supply and controller.

I'm rigging up a 3 way polarity flipping switch inline with the motor and the power supply. Everything works great as long as I close the switch first and then plug in the power supply, but if I have the power supply plugged in already and flip the switch it turns on for a few mili-seconds and then stops. I have to unplug the power supply and plug it back in to get it to work at all again.

I'm guessing that the motor is drawing too much current on startup, and the power supply (a laptop one) has a protection circuit.

Here are the specs:

Motor - DC 24V 55W (not sure on the amperage I think 2A) Duty Cycle 10%
Power Supply - 24V 5A 120W

So I'm looking for an inexpensive solution that hopefully doesn't have me buying another power supply.

Thanks is advance for any help you can give!

 

[Sceadwian]

A very low value power resistor will help with inrush current, try something under 1 ohm 5-10watts (ballparking it) a capacitor in parallel with the power supply output would probably help the most, the bigger the better.

 

[tunedwolf]

I would look to using/ building a properly rated linear supply as would have originally been used rather than a piddly switching one. Switching supplies don't saturate like an old transformer can. Nothing fancy is required in the supply, just a properly rated transformer, Bridge Rectifier and a decent sized reservoir Capacitor, so shouldn't be particularly expensive or difficult to build. Anything else is a compromise and a possible fire risk. Also don't forget to place a good snubber network across your motor, no matter what way you decide to go, or your switch contacts will last you 3 months

rgds