diff --git a/src/ContinuousAO.cpp b/src/ContinuousAO.cpp
index 776d4ed23e8b9452ecc55c78f4701874d245e6ad..1adec9072e7758e74b560dcd60aa12f5c5c2695a 100644
--- a/src/ContinuousAO.cpp
+++ b/src/ContinuousAO.cpp
@@ -1447,7 +1447,7 @@ void ContinuousAO::save_waveform(double* waveform, string wfm_channel)
   Tango::DbData db_data;
   db_data.push_back(dbdatum);
   
-  get_db_device()->set_timeout_millis(30000);
+  get_db_device()->get_dbase()->set_timeout_millis(30000);
 
   // put the waveform in the database 
   _DEV_TRY