# Dashboard Graphs Time Series Issues - Stumped

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/dashboard-graphs-time-series-issues-stumped/16771>\
**Category:** Dashboard\
**Created:** [16 October 2019 13:56 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/dashboard-graphs-time-series-issues-stumped/16771 "2019-10-16T13:56:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ntableman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ntableman/32/10223_2.png) [@ntableman](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ntableman)\
**Post date:** [16 October 2019 13:56 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/dashboard-graphs-time-series-issues-stumped/16771/1 "2019-10-16T13:56:45Z")

</div>

I have a dashboard with multiple graphs which load data from files on startup and then get data from events that happen after that. The file is saved off with a write node after the graph node. They graphs all look perfect when the file loads, but when the new data starts to come in they look like this:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/2X/2/2943d107a6074bb74fb0b833d7af431b9fc26765.png)

So I have read around and most people seem to have timezone/timestamp issues. I am not sure this is the issue, because if you look at what is happening with the data it isn't a few hours off (I am Eastern, so 4/5 hours off UTC) it is off by days.

I have dumped the data, sorted it, stared at it, etc... and the data doesn't appear to have any issues. They are all unix epoch in ms.

So then I took all the data from the saved file and shifted those epochs to UTC - as a test - and as expected the dashboard converts them to EDT, but the same issue happens.

So then I put in a node which takes all timestamps on new data and shifts them to UTC, nope, same issue.

So them I used that node to make sure the timestamps were in EDT, nope, same issue.

Again is the data were off by 5/4 hours I'd understand this, but they aren't.

I read to try this: process.env.TZ = **"America/New\_York"** ; in my settings.js - doesn't seem to change the outcomes of my tests - either way.

Node-red is running on a RPi v 1.0.2; dashboard node set is up to date.

Any thoughts on why this might be happening? Ideas on other experiments to debug?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [16 October 2019 14:41 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/dashboard-graphs-time-series-issues-stumped/16771/2 "2019-10-16T14:41:15Z")

</div>

You said the graph looks correct after it is initially regenerated so I am not sure what timestamps you have been staring at. If it looks right then I would have thought that they must be right.  
Show us what it looks like after the chart has been initially redrawn. Then again after a few new samples have been added.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BambosD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/54ee81/32.png) [@BambosD](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/BambosD)\
**Post date:** [4 November 2025 19:33 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/dashboard-graphs-time-series-issues-stumped/16771/3 "2025-11-04T19:33:04Z")

</div>

Hello everyone,

Searching in the forum for post about graphs and found this thread.  
i'm using dashboard 2 and the chart node.  
my flow is simple as below, generating 3 numbers and set the topic for each.

```auto

[
    {
        "id": "bcec8084ca96a7c2",
        "type": "ui-chart",
        "z": "83d956278f9f3685",
        "group": "9004f5edd0e95e52",
        "name": "",
        "label": "chart 3",
        "order": 2,
        "chartType": "line",
        "category": "topic",
        "categoryType": "msg",
        "xAxisLabel": "x label",
        "xAxisProperty": "",
        "xAxisPropertyType": "timestamp",
        "xAxisType": "category",
        "xAxisFormat": "",
        "xAxisFormatType": "auto",
        "xmin": "",
        "xmax": "",
        "yAxisLabel": "y label",
        "yAxisProperty": "payload",
        "yAxisPropertyType": "msg",
        "ymin": "0",
        "ymax": "",
        "bins": 10,
        "action": "append",
        "stackSeries": false,
        "pointShape": "circle",
        "pointRadius": "4",
        "showLegend": true,
        "removeOlder": "3",
        "removeOlderUnit": "3600",
        "removeOlderPoints": "500",
        "colors": [
            "#0095ff",
            "#ff0000",
            "#ff7f0e",
            "#2ca02c",
            "#a347e1",
            "#d62728",
            "#ff9896",
            "#9467bd",
            "#c5b0d5"
        ],
        "textColor": [
            "#666666"
        ],
        "textColorDefault": true,
        "gridColor": [
            "#e5e5e5"
        ],
        "gridColorDefault": true,
        "width": "6",
        "height": "5",
        "className": "",
        "interpolation": "smooth",
        "x": 1010,
        "y": 1100,
        "wires": [
            []
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "31cddf47a8477dd4",
        "type": "random",
        "z": "83d956278f9f3685",
        "name": "",
        "low": "1000",
        "high": "800",
        "inte": "false",
        "property": "payload",
        "x": 460,
        "y": 1020,
        "wires": [
            [
                "1494e29ad94063a2"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "6388f53450f758b8",
        "type": "inject",
        "z": "83d956278f9f3685",
        "name": "",
        "props": [
            {
                "p": "timestamp",
                "v": "object",
                "vt": "date"
            }
        ],
        "repeat": "1",
        "crontab": "",
        "once": false,
        "onceDelay": 0.1,
        "topic": "",
        "x": 150,
        "y": 1100,
        "wires": [
            [
                "31cddf47a8477dd4",
                "4e7b079075a8388b",
                "a614216567bb667e"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "4e7b079075a8388b",
        "type": "random",
        "z": "83d956278f9f3685",
        "name": "",
        "low": "400",
        "high": "500",
        "inte": "false",
        "property": "payload",
        "x": 460,
        "y": 1100,
        "wires": [
            [
                "48aaa827dbfc873d"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "a614216567bb667e",
        "type": "random",
        "z": "83d956278f9f3685",
        "name": "",
        "low": "420",
        "high": "480",
        "inte": "false",
        "property": "payload",
        "x": 460,
        "y": 1180,
        "wires": [
            [
                "8683b3520479d214"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "1494e29ad94063a2",
        "type": "change",
        "z": "83d956278f9f3685",
        "name": "",
        "rules": [
            {
                "t": "set",
                "p": "topic",
                "pt": "msg",
                "to": "irradiance",
                "tot": "str"
            }
        ],
        "action": "",
        "property": "",
        "from": "",
        "to": "",
        "reg": false,
        "x": 670,
        "y": 1020,
        "wires": [
            [
                "bcec8084ca96a7c2"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "48aaa827dbfc873d",
        "type": "change",
        "z": "83d956278f9f3685",
        "name": "",
        "rules": [
            {
                "t": "set",
                "p": "topic",
                "pt": "msg",
                "to": "dso setpoint",
                "tot": "str"
            }
        ],
        "action": "",
        "property": "",
        "from": "",
        "to": "",
        "reg": false,
        "x": 670,
        "y": 1100,
        "wires": [
            [
                "bcec8084ca96a7c2"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "8683b3520479d214",
        "type": "change",
        "z": "83d956278f9f3685",
        "name": "",
        "rules": [
            {
                "t": "set",
                "p": "topic",
                "pt": "msg",
                "to": "Pout",
                "tot": "str"
            }
        ],
        "action": "",
        "property": "",
        "from": "",
        "to": "",
        "reg": false,
        "x": 670,
        "y": 1180,
        "wires": [
            [
                "bcec8084ca96a7c2"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "9004f5edd0e95e52",
        "type": "ui-group",
        "name": "Group Name",
        "page": "799cb85d9de3dd81",
        "width": 6,
        "height": 1,
        "order": 1,
        "showTitle": true,
        "className": "",
        "visible": "true",
        "disabled": "false",
        "groupType": "default"
    },
    {
        "id": "799cb85d9de3dd81",
        "type": "ui-page",
        "name": "group3",
        "ui": "fe44d2b524e4d1ed",
        "path": "/page1",
        "icon": "home",
        "layout": "grid",
        "theme": "34d4bfb4554e23c8",
        "breakpoints": [
            {
                "name": "Default",
                "px": "0",
                "cols": "3"
            },
            {
                "name": "Tablet",
                "px": "576",
                "cols": "6"
            },
            {
                "name": "Small Desktop",
                "px": "768",
                "cols": "9"
            },
            {
                "name": "Desktop",
                "px": "1024",
                "cols": "12"
            }
        ],
        "order": 2,
        "className": "",
        "visible": "true",
        "disabled": "false"
    },
    {
        "id": "fe44d2b524e4d1ed",
        "type": "ui-base",
        "name": "view5",
        "path": "/dashboard",
        "appIcon": "",
        "includeClientData": true,
        "acceptsClientConfig": [
            "ui-notification",
            "ui-control"
        ],
        "showPathInSidebar": true,
        "headerContent": "dashpage",
        "navigationStyle": "default",
        "titleBarStyle": "default",
        "showReconnectNotification": true,
        "notificationDisplayTime": 1,
        "showDisconnectNotification": true,
        "allowInstall": true
    },
    {
        "id": "34d4bfb4554e23c8",
        "type": "ui-theme",
        "name": "Default Theme",
        "colors": {
            "surface": "#ffffff",
            "primary": "#0094ce",
            "bgPage": "#eeeeee",
            "groupBg": "#ffffff",
            "groupOutline": "#cccccc"
        },
        "sizes": {
            "density": "default",
            "pagePadding": "12px",
            "groupGap": "12px",
            "groupBorderRadius": "4px",
            "widgetGap": "12px"
        }
    }
]

```

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/b/8/b8a6931659901698c6a4264a0063095548541e10.png)

the injection is happening with the same inject node, but still the data points are not aligned.

Also the time is not displayed correctly.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/8/c/8c342b55e260f0d13747c00215c4aa92e624f79c.png)

I would expect each point to be aligned on the X axis that is the timestamp.  
The 3 different series are recognised by msg.topic (3 different topics)  
Does the graph node takes more settings somehow to do that ?  
If anyone notice the time (ms before epoch) actually are not sorted oldest to newest.  
Is there any problem with how i feed the data ?

the settings on the graph node are:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/c/1/c1c9dbde0d819ba5617000711082fbd761755c39.png)

My target is to present those values as timeseries from oldest to newest and each data point to get the same vertical point on the graph and show the 3 graphs in parallel. Also to show the time correctly. Any suggestions appreciated.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [4 November 2025 20:11 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/dashboard-graphs-time-series-issues-stumped/16771/4 "2025-11-04T20:11:09Z")

</div>

Change the x axis from categorical to time series.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BambosD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/54ee81/32.png) [@BambosD](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/BambosD)\
**Post date:** [5 November 2025 06:31 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/dashboard-graphs-time-series-issues-stumped/16771/5 "2025-11-05T06:31:10Z")

</div>

thanks Colin !! didn't saw that option. 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [5 November 2025 07:16 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/dashboard-graphs-time-series-issues-stumped/16771/6 "2025-11-05T07:16:48Z")

</div>

It should have defaulted to Timescale, or did you get the chart by importing a flow?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BambosD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/54ee81/32.png) [@BambosD](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/BambosD)\
**Post date:** [5 November 2025 07:30 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/dashboard-graphs-time-series-issues-stumped/16771/7 "2025-11-05T07:30:33Z")

</div>

it is defaulted to timescale, i switch between type : line to bar and then back to line.

from line to bar, x axis changing to categorical  
from bar to line, x axis not changing to timescale

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [5 November 2025 08:18 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/dashboard-graphs-time-series-issues-stumped/16771/8 "2025-11-05T08:18:13Z")

</div>

That explains it. It has to change to category when you select bar chart, but both are valid for line do it does not change back.