diff --git a/src/core.c b/src/core.c
index 1b1f6fb1..842709a0 100644
--- a/src/core.c
+++ b/src/core.c
@@ -1330,7 +1330,7 @@ struct text_object *construct_text_object(const char *s, const char *arg, long
 		} else {
 			CRIT_ERR(obj, free_at_crash, "lua_bar needs arguments: <height>,<width> <function name> [function parameters]");
 		}
-		obj->callbacks.print = &print_lua_bar;
+		obj->callbacks.barval = &lua_barval;
 		obj->callbacks.free = &gen_free_opaque;
 #ifdef X11
 	END OBJ_ARG(lua_graph, 0, "lua_graph needs arguments: <function name> [height],[width] [gradient colour 1] [gradient colour 2] [scale] [-t] [-l]")
diff --git a/src/llua.c b/src/llua.c
index bb9b2d32..8c12a2f7 100644
--- a/src/llua.c
+++ b/src/llua.c
@@ -546,12 +546,13 @@ void print_lua_parse(struct text_object *obj, char *p, int p_max_size)
 	}
 }
 
-void print_lua_bar(struct text_object *obj, char *p, int p_max_size)
+uint8_t lua_barval(struct text_object *obj)
 {
 	double per;
 	if (llua_getnumber(obj->data.s, &per)) {
-		new_bar(obj, p, p_max_size, (per/100.0 * 255));
+		return round_to_int(per * 2.55);
 	}
+	return 0;
 }
 
 #ifdef X11
diff --git a/src/llua.h b/src/llua.h
index 0c940342..291b2e77 100644
--- a/src/llua.h
+++ b/src/llua.h
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ void llua_update_info(struct information *i, double u_interval);
 
 void print_lua(struct text_object *, char *, int);
 void print_lua_parse(struct text_object *, char *, int);
-void print_lua_bar(struct text_object *, char *, int);
+uint8_t lua_barval(struct text_object *);
 #ifdef X11
 void print_lua_graph(struct text_object *, char *, int);
 #endif /* X11 */