Heated Bed Temperature

I am brand new to 3D printing and I have purchased an Electron 3D Prusa i3 printer kit (Migbot clone). Yesterday, I was able to get the computer talking to the printer via Reptier Host (firmware is Marlin) and I have control of the machine. However, the heated bed will not come up to temp. The desired temp is set at 110C but, the bed won't get any hotter than 90C (indicated). I'm not sure if the temp reading is wrong or if the bed is just not heating up.
Evidently, prints won't start until all temperatures are at the set value (?). I've run out of ideas at the moment and could use some advice.

Thanks,
Garry

This is a very common problem with cheap kits using PCB heaters. Start by measuring the voltage coming out of the power supply, the voltage appearing at the power inputs to the printer electronics, the voltage appearing at the bed heater output of the electronics, and the voltage on the terminals of the heat bed. This will tell you whether there is excessive voltage drop in the electronics or the wiring.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

It wouldn't hurt to replace your heatbed supply wires with 14 gauge multistrand. Multistrand is more flexible. Smaller wires can choke the current.

What I would do is to trouble shoot the thermistor.
At room Temp (21C) putting your multimeter at Ohms, it should read around 112 ish ohms..
then, if it reads that it tells you that there's no short from the thermistor and you would look into the PID in the firmware...or

Thanks guys. Your advice helps. I've been a bit busy the past few days and have not been able to address the problem. Hopefully, I'll be able to attempt your solutions tomorrow.
BTW ....my printer has an aluminum plate for a hot bed that is .160" thick. The thickness seems a bit excessive to me but, I doubt it will warp. Any opinions on the thickness of the material and the material itself? I've seen and read that other folks are using glass plate? Would I get better heating using glass?

Thanks again,
Garry

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2015 11:43PM by rowdyjoe.