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Spark gaps can be made from brass copper or other metallic electrodes. Under high current and high charge transfer the metal may vaporize and create some deviations in trigger performance. A new approach using graphite electrodes avoids the disadvantages of metal electrodes because no metallic plasma is generated. The trigger of such electrodes can be reached using a spark plug, which is driven by a small impulse amplifier inside the graphite electrode. A battery of 1,5 volt can continuously provide the required trigger voltage for more than one year. The amplifier has a build in pin diode which can be triggered using a fibre optic cable coming from a digital time control system with laser outputs. The advantage of such a system is the potental independent triggering either on anode or cathode. The trigger range reaches 50 % of the nominal static breakdown voltage. The abrasion of electrodes is low even under thousands of shots of 10/350ps impulse currents. The latest technology in miniaturization of electronic devices has even more reduced the size of the high voltage trigger amplifier. The paper shows the design and the trigger range as well as some pictures of electrodes after use in a crow bar switch.