Using time (numerically) on y-axis

**JCO71** · 01-28-2013, 10:09 AM

Hi,

I am using line charts to map months (x-axis) against time (y-axis) - namely when certain data was received. As these charts don't like time I've converted the time to numbers.
All is fine except in one chart where the time passes over midnight.
I have added 24 to the lower numbers so the chart looks right, however I need to re-label the y-axis to show the true time - not the alternate I have entered.

Please could anyone help?

Thank you xx

**MrShorty** · 01-28-2013, 11:44 AM

An example is probably necessary for this kind of problem, so we can see exactly how you are converting time serials to regular numbers and get a better feel for what you want your chart to look like. Basically, I see two general directions for a solution to this problem:
1) Re-think the transformation for time serial data to number so that it plots better. Or
2) Hide Excel's built in axis and build your own axis from a dummy series and Rob Bovey's XY chart labeler addin.

**JCO71** · 01-29-2013, 05:51 AM

Thanks. This is the data I have - post times for each month. I think your second option looks the best for me - how do I go about doing this?

I just want a line chart (or scatter chart) plotting these to show the time variants. I will then include the expected times.

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Data Source time 2.42 2.48 2.09 0.07 23.41 23.47 23.47

**MrShorty** · 01-29-2013, 09:38 AM

It's still not clear to me what those numbers are or how you came up with them. So it is hard to make a more specific suggestion.

I think your second option looks the best for me - how do I go about doing this?

Using a dummy series as an axis is a fairly common strategy. Here's a tutorial (If you need to do a lot of "custom charting", you probably should browse Jon's site to see what other tricks he's got) http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/ArbitraryAxis.html