Welcome to the Bike Forums Scot,
First, I highly recommend that you obtain/download any and all maintenance/troubleshooting/owner's guides for your particular model from Cytronex. These guides, and the info within, should be strictly followed for best results.
Second, can you give us the model and/or serial numbers of your system components? This info can be very useful to us.
Ok, so if I understand you correctly, you've got a NIMH (Nickel–metal hydride) battery and charger that evidently check out to be "Ok" (you seem to indicate that you sent them out to be tested...). You also have a controller that may, or may not be good. A "no voltage to the wires that would connect to the wheel" would, in most cases, indicate a blown fuse, improper battery voltage (i.e. too high or too low), bad wire connections (loose/disconnected, dirty, etc) bad wires (severed conductors, worn insulation, etc) and/or a bad controller. Bad ebike components (i.e. controllers and motors) will sometimes have a "burnt" smell to them).
So lets start at the start:
1. What is the battery voltage after you've fully charged it?
Note: 36 volt NIMH batteries normally have "working" voltage of about 36 and a peak (freshly charged) voltage that should never exceed 43v. A good freshly charged 36v NIMH battery should have between 37-39 volts (anything less than 36 volts could indicate a bad cell or cells). Also note that many NIMH batteries have a short (unused) shelf life of only about 2 years. These batteries also have a relatively short "usage" life of only a few hundred "charge/discharge" cycles. This is why such batteries have been largely replaced by newer battery chemistry types (i.e. LifePo4, Lipo, etc). 2. Are there any fuses in the system wires and/or battery and, if so, are they good? 3. Are the system wires in good shape and are all of the connections clean and tight?
Here's a link that explains different battery chemistry types:
http://ebikes.ca/batteries.shtml
All right, let's get down to the nitty-gritty shall we?
The truth is that you (imo) would probably be better off with an entirely new, and up-to-date, ebike power system. I say this because NIMH batteries have more than a few shortcomings when used in ebikes (short shelf and cycle/use life, low C output ratings, charging hazards, etc, etc). This is not to mention that your existing controller may be bad...
The bottom line here is that a new ebike power system could save you a lot of time and money in the long run (that is, unless you enjoy working on ebike power $ystems...).
Btw, here's a link that you might find interesting:
http://ebikes.ca/faq.shtml
HTH