Marx Generator

[Shel VC]

I'm planning on making a Marx Generator, but I'm fairly new to this sort of thing, so before I actually make it, I'd like someone with more experience to look over my design and point out any problems.
Here's a schematic I made in Fritzing;
It uses a 12v DC power supply, one 120kΩ resistor, four 12kΩ resistors, three 16v 470μF electrolytic capacitors, and three spark gaps. I know I laid the parts out properly, I'm just not sure if the parts themselves are properly suited for a Marx generator. Does anyone know if the capacitors have to be ceramic disc type or can they be electrolytic? Are they rated high enough? Is there anything else I might be missing?
Any suggestions would be hugely appreciated.

 

[(*steve*)]

As long as the spark gaps will arc over at 12V...

If it worked perfectly, your circuit would generate a pulse at 36V. Not really impressive.

The "low voltage" input to most Marx generators is in the order of thousands of volts. Check out Wikipedia for more information (or this).

 

[Shel VC]

Yeah... I know that the voltage isn't as high as most Marx generators are, but I just want to see if it would work with such low voltage. Will it actually spark at only 12-32v?

 

[(*steve*)]

You will need something which goes from high to low impedance is around 12V. A spark gap is unlikely to work because the points would have to be extremely close to each other.

You could (maybe) use opto-isolated triac drivers. You would manually trigger them by applying the appropriate current to the LED that triggers them. You would need a random phase version, and you may have to be careful that you don't kill them with the discharge current. Using these to trigger a more robust triac or scr would be better.

However, you only get 36V out (after losses, you'd get substantially less).

For such really low voltage there are many far better solutions.

What are you actually trying to do? Maybe we can suggest an alternative?

 

[duke37]

If you are willing to use a higher voltage, then neon bulbs would make consistent spark gaps. They will fire at about 80V but will stand only a very low current.

A Zener diode used to switch an SCR may do the job.