Electrical Problem Aquarium Light fitting

[chamois]

A friend of mine has an 8ft long seawater aquarium in her front room complete with sump and all the other gear. She's recently bought a brand-new light canopy unit for the aquarium which consists of four glass-shielded metal halide lamps and a pair of mechanical time switches on the underside of the unit facing the water. The underside of the unit is around 3ft above the surface of the water. The light canopy itself is suspended by two wires from the ceiling. The light canopy is rated at domestic mains voltage and has a coiled manufacturer fitted mains lead terminated with an ordinary 13amp plug. On the underside of the unit is apparently a label which reads something like "Danger X Kilovolts". The problem she is having is that within seconds of her plugging the mains plug into the nearest socket and switching on, the trip switch in the consumer unit activates, knocking off all the electricity in the house. Could anyone provide some advice on this matter please? What could be causing this and how can it be overcome. Thanks all. (She's tried to sign up on AB herself tonight but the registration process is up the creek)

[raysparx1]

Hi chamois, obviously without looking at the unit it is hard to say, but it sounds as if there could be an earth fault on the unit, I would suggest they take it back and have it checked, but make sure when they take it back the company test it by making sure it is connected through an RCD adaptor, if it is an earth fault it will trip, good luck, Ray

[chamois]

Thank you very much for the advice raysparx1. I''ll get her to send the unit back right away.

[talllady]

when these lights come on there is a votage surge, this could be the trouble, you might have to replace the circuit breaker to a type suited to this. find a decent elecrical wholesaler and explane the problemto them.
do not use homebase ect