I have been looking for ways to limit inrush current in a power supply circuit I am designing. In LTspice, with no current limiting, I see a spike of around 24A before my caps are charged.
Looking around, I see NTC inrush current limiters as a common solution as well as some ideas with inductors and resistors inline with the capacitor, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
My idea though was to put a resistor before the bridge rectifier in my circuit, so the resistor would always provide some resistance before the capacitors got charged. Playing around again in LTspice, this drops my inrush current to about 4A (and changes with the resistor value obviously).
Is this ever done? Are there any major good or bad reasons to do this? I suspect no one does this due to decreased power efficiency, but is that the only reason?