AGM batteries safe enought to have in the garage????

Yes, very much so.

AGM batteries, because they are a sealed battery, can be stored in any orientation. These batteries also have little risk of the release of large quantities of hydrogen gas, if they were to be damaged in such ways. The ones that release hydrogen are the flooded lead acid type batteries, but remember they only burp when you hurt them in some way (over charge, too hot)

Hope this helps,

Ian

Thanks guys. 

I was wondering if this would work?

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=91573-000000230-3725&lpage=none

no no - the cement floor thing is left over from the days when batteries were leaky wood boxes and the fliud would leak out and creat continuity and drain the battery. forget the cement floor thing. in fact, it sorta makes a nice heat sink.

btw: i verified all this by leaving my 200ah mk agm's on my warehouse floor for 1/2 year.

Hi Guys - to answer the temperature question, as usual the answer is "it depends".  In a remote site we operate, an unheated but very well-insulated structure on top of a concrete slab houses, among other things, the AGM batteries to the system we operate.  This outpost is within a few miles of the Canadian border, and it gets very cold in the winter. However, the slab, being connected to the earth, actually keeps the interior of the structure fairly 'warm'. We continuously monitor internal temperature, and the coldest it got last year was +22F degrees inside (average daily temp outside was this time as around -5 to 0 degres F for long periods). We are using AGM batteries, they are not on the slab but it is the slab that is keeping the structure significantly above the outside temperature. We adjust the charge controller a couple times a year to account for average temperature in the structure. A better way would probably be to just use a battery temp sensor. In the case of putting the batteries in the garage, I suppose you need to consider if the average air temp in your garage is warmer than the slab temp. At any rate, keep the batteries charged and low temps aren't a problem (be sure to have low voltage disconnects on inverters, etc.).  Good luck -

Tom Hardy, PE
HVTA, Inc.
Allenstown, NH