diff --git a/bin/user/netatmo.py b/bin/user/netatmo.py
index 2f4a512..6cdca34 100644
--- a/bin/user/netatmo.py
+++ b/bin/user/netatmo.py
@@ -518,7 +518,7 @@ def get_data(self, device_id=None, stale=300):
     def post_request(url, params):
         # netatmo response body size is limited to 64K
         url = CloudClient.NETATMO_URL + url
-        params = urlencode(params)
+        params = urlencode(params).encode("utf-8")
         headers = {
             "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded;charset=utf-8"}
         logdbg("url: %s data: %s hdr: %s" % (url, params, headers))