happy,
the motor ran fine on to walmart and half way back then quit working. i checked all the terminals and they were tight so we pedaled home in the lowest gears with the wife complaining 'we are going to slow', and oh how hard it was, counting the 18 mph head winds and and the 30 extra pounds i put on this winter along with her purchases.  i had pedaled the ez-1 sx, two wheeler with fairing over to walmart and got around 30 pounds of groceries before lunch and put most in a giant size insulated bag (a Sam's Club insulated bag) (thought it was going to tear when i lifted it onto the back of the recumbent. Delores couldn't lift it at home) and tied the works on the back. wow, what a balancing difference that made with the weight higher up and several liters of liquid on board. back at home i put your charger on and it charged 1 3/4 hour then said full charge by the green light.  we had started with a full charge and ran only 3 miles pedaling with the motor, so maybe something is drawing to much charge out of the new batteries or a short somewhere, as loud pop in plugging it into the controller but no lights at the controller or hand switch when turned on, like before.   i built a box over the front wheel this afternoon on the usx, so we can change the location of the battery to over the front wheel Friday, making it easier for us (and thieves) to get at for charging, removing and inspections.
i will have the check for you for the new charger friday when you come up.  to bad my faulty charger was at apparent reason for my first set of batteries going bad after only 3 months of good use, as you determined, but i am sure when the guy drove it with the brake on it must have damaged something to a degree.  that is why i didn't try to get any warranty claim besides the time ran out so didn't try there though i did complained to 5 Flags hoping they could walk me through some method of finding the problem but he was only concerned about warranties it seems. i think there is still a problem as why would it be running fine then nothing, instead of loosing power like a normal run down in a slow process.  i have confidence you will be able to help me find the problem as that kind of problem, along  with my limited knowledge & vision for working on things along with my limited leg power for pedaling alone, causes me to think i should get a hand trike to put on the front of Delores's trailing trike, as i have lots of power in my arms and forget the motor, but we have come a long way and can't stop now in the 'find the problem' process.
happy, would you take some more photos of your trike with the solar panel charging process for the batteries and write a story how you got the sun ez-3 usx, and modified it because of your disability and made it into your own easy to use trike along with something about the parades you have ridden in and send to Laurie 'wo' Smith, address above, and maybe she can find a space for it in the ERRC magazine.  she is really the best editor i have ever came across. you will find no mistakes in your printed story.   i added two of the photos i took yesterday to this letter though i should have had another one a little further back. i am not sure these pictures are going through though, as they been attaching for a very long time and still doing it but i am going to try to send it anyway,