Guide
Brass vs Aluminum Fixtures on the Coast
Within a few miles of the water, salt air is the single biggest factor in how long a lighting system lasts. The fixture material decides whether your system looks the same in year ten or is a garden of green, pitted metal by year three.
What salt air does to fixtures
Salt accelerates corrosion on every exposed metal. Powder-coated aluminum fixtures — the kind in most budget installs — pit at every scratch and chip, the coating lifts, and the fixture body corrodes underneath. Painted finishes fade and chalk in UV on top of that.
- Powder-coated aluminum: pits and corrodes at chips, typically within 2–4 coastal seasons
- Painted steel: rusts at fasteners and seams first
- Stainless steel: holds up well, but finishes can still tea-stain near the surf
- Solid brass and copper: develop a patina but do not structurally corrode
Why we spec solid brass
Brass costs more up front and almost nothing over time. It does not pit through, the threads still turn after a decade, and the patina it develops reads as aged bronze rather than damage. Every fixture we install within the coastal zone is solid brass or copper for exactly this reason.
The splices matter as much as the fixtures
The most common coastal failure is not the fixture at all — it is the wire splice buried in damp, salty soil. Unsealed wire nuts corrode into open circuits. Every splice we make is waterproofed, which is why our coastal systems keep working where others go dark zone by zone.
Related service: Landscape Lighting · All guides