500VA Toroid - Relay or Contactor?

[Jonathan]

I didn't have much joy using an SSR to switch my toroid supply on. Can't quite remember what it did now but something didn't work. I then read they aren't good with these types of loads.

This could be because some SSRs switch only at the nearest zero crossing point, which is the point that gives the highest inrush current for a transformer, so not such a great idea. Other than that I can't think why they wouldn't work well.

They also fail ON. [...]The mains switch made me chuckle. Should also be fine but then it's not part of a safety circuit if you want to have that feature in your system

I agree neither is going to fair well with any modern safety inspection.