Weight said:
Actually it does.
There is a difference in temperature between the bottom of the battery, sitting on a very cold concrete floor, and the room temperature which is usually somewhat warmer.
This temperature differential contributes to the stratification.
Stored lead acid batteries should be maintained electrically, and stored above those cold surfaces. You are right, cold is better, but a shelf that's 4 feet up, in that cold garage or basement, is fine.
In fact if that shelf was made of concrete, but 4 feet up in a warmer room, the battery will still be happy.
In one of the repeater sites I maintain, we keep the back-up AGM batteries in permanent float mode, and physically elevated above the cold concrete floor for exactly this reason. The room gets VERY cold in the winter, since it is neither heated, nor insulated. The AGMs are not vulnerable to stratified electrolyte, but they are affected by temperature imbalance. You want the entire battery at the SAME temperature.
