Thread: help in creating charts of vehicle data

I have a program that logs vehicle data, such as speed, rpm, and various
sensor data, and saves it to a comma delimited file.

I would like to use this data to create various charts but have never done
graphs or charting in excel and am having trouble creating some.

For the simple charts, such as rpm vs time, I used the wizard in excel to
create that.

But I wanted to make some, compound charts as I would call it. This would
be RPM and Speed vs time.

How would I create reports with 2 or more values vs time like this above ?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

--
Tony

TM wrote:
> I have a program that logs vehicle data, such as speed, rpm, and various
> sensor data, and saves it to a comma delimited file.
>
> I would like to use this data to create various charts but have never done
> graphs or charting in excel and am having trouble creating some.
>
> For the simple charts, such as rpm vs time, I used the wizard in excel to
> create that.
>
> But I wanted to make some, compound charts as I would call it. This would
> be RPM and Speed vs time.
>
> How would I create reports with 2 or more values vs time like this above ?
>
> Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks
>

Are you trying to simply plot the rpm and speed over time on the same
graph, or are you trying to see an actual correlation? If you just want
to see them plotted on the same graph, then use a line or scatter, with
your time being the x-axis, and the two other variables being on the
y-axis. Otherwise, maybe someone else on the list can give a crash
course on statistics within excel - I'll leave that to the experts.

Brad

I am not looking for any statistical analysis. I am just looking to crate
some charts where I can view data from more than one sensor on the same
chart.

For example, I would like to see (RPM, coolant temp, and intake temp) vs
time, on the same chart. That way I can see the relationships. Such as
obvious things like the temps will rise as the engine heats up. But if I
put a heat shield on something then I want to look at this chart and see if
the temps rise more or less after the modification.

This is the kind of thing I am looking to do. Hope this can be done

--
Tony



"Bradly McConnell" <bradly.mcconnell@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:Q2PYd.2332$hA3.1052@trnddc09...
> TM wrote:
>> I have a program that logs vehicle data, such as speed, rpm, and various
>> sensor data, and saves it to a comma delimited file.
>>
>> I would like to use this data to create various charts but have never
>> done graphs or charting in excel and am having trouble creating some.
>>
>> For the simple charts, such as rpm vs time, I used the wizard in excel to
>> create that.
>>
>> But I wanted to make some, compound charts as I would call it. This
>> would be RPM and Speed vs time.
>>
>> How would I create reports with 2 or more values vs time like this above
>> ?
>>
>> Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks
>>
>
> Are you trying to simply plot the rpm and speed over time on the same
> graph, or are you trying to see an actual correlation? If you just want
> to see them plotted on the same graph, then use a line or scatter, with
> your time being the x-axis, and the two other variables being on the
> y-axis. Otherwise, maybe someone else on the list can give a crash course
> on statistics within excel - I'll leave that to the experts.
>
> Brad

TM wrote:
> I am not looking for any statistical analysis. I am just looking to crate
> some charts where I can view data from more than one sensor on the same
> chart.
>
> For example, I would like to see (RPM, coolant temp, and intake temp) vs
> time, on the same chart. That way I can see the relationships. Such as
> obvious things like the temps will rise as the engine heats up. But if I
> put a heat shield on something then I want to look at this chart and see if
> the temps rise more or less after the modification.
>
> This is the kind of thing I am looking to do. Hope this can be done
>
If that's the case, you should simply be able to put the data into four
columns - for simplicity, we'll put time as the first (A), then RPM,
Coolant temp, intake temp in the following columns. Once you have the
data in place, create a chart using either the line or bar graph styles
(just to make it easy) - use the time column as your x-axis, and then
add a series for each of the other three columns. It should lay them
out. The only problem I see with tying in the RPM, is that the scale
will be way off for the temps. Either all the RPM marks will be above
the high point (using temps) or the temps will all show close to the
bottom (using rpm).

Brad

I see what you mean, but I think I am confusing myself. I think I need to
read up more on the basics of charting in Excel. I have never done charts
of any kind

--
Tony



"Bradly McConnell" <bradly.mcconnell@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:brQYd.1947$GI6.1862@trnddc05...
> TM wrote:
>> I am not looking for any statistical analysis. I am just looking to
>> crate some charts where I can view data from more than one sensor on the
>> same chart.
>>
>> For example, I would like to see (RPM, coolant temp, and intake temp) vs
>> time, on the same chart. That way I can see the relationships. Such as
>> obvious things like the temps will rise as the engine heats up. But if I
>> put a heat shield on something then I want to look at this chart and see
>> if the temps rise more or less after the modification.
>>
>> This is the kind of thing I am looking to do. Hope this can be done
>>
> If that's the case, you should simply be able to put the data into four
> columns - for simplicity, we'll put time as the first (A), then RPM,
> Coolant temp, intake temp in the following columns. Once you have the
> data in place, create a chart using either the line or bar graph styles
> (just to make it easy) - use the time column as your x-axis, and then add
> a series for each of the other three columns. It should lay them out.
> The only problem I see with tying in the RPM, is that the scale will be
> way off for the temps. Either all the RPM marks will be above the high
> point (using temps) or the temps will all show close to the bottom (using
> rpm).
>
> Brad

TM wrote:
> I see what you mean, but I think I am confusing myself. I think I need to
> read up more on the basics of charting in Excel. I have never done charts
> of any kind
>
Send me an email (to the actual address, not the group) so I can send
you an example - you might even just have to change the data, and use it
as is.

Brad

Bradly's advice is good. All I would suggest instead is to make an XY Scatter chart
instead of a column, line, or bar chart. This puts the actual values of time along
the X axis, rather than nonnumeric labels uniformly spaced regardless of their values.

Also, if the scale of the RPM data is way off from the temperatures, you can use a
secondary axis for RPM. Double click the series, and on the Axis tab, choose the
Secondary Axis option.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com/
_______

Bradly McConnell wrote:

> TM wrote:
>
>> I am not looking for any statistical analysis. I am just looking to
>> crate some charts where I can view data from more than one sensor on
>> the same chart.
>>
>> For example, I would like to see (RPM, coolant temp, and intake temp)
>> vs time, on the same chart. That way I can see the relationships.
>> Such as obvious things like the temps will rise as the engine heats
>> up. But if I put a heat shield on something then I want to look at
>> this chart and see if the temps rise more or less after the modification.
>>
>> This is the kind of thing I am looking to do. Hope this can be done
>>
> If that's the case, you should simply be able to put the data into four
> columns - for simplicity, we'll put time as the first (A), then RPM,
> Coolant temp, intake temp in the following columns. Once you have the
> data in place, create a chart using either the line or bar graph styles
> (just to make it easy) - use the time column as your x-axis, and then
> add a series for each of the other three columns. It should lay them
> out. The only problem I see with tying in the RPM, is that the scale
> will be way off for the temps. Either all the RPM marks will be above
> the high point (using temps) or the temps will all show close to the
> bottom (using rpm).
>
> Brad