# Change msg.payload does not work
**URL:** https://discourse.nodered.org/t/change-msg-payload-does-not-work/93395
**Category:** General
**Created:** [23 November 2024 21:11 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/change-msg-payload-does-not-work/93395 "2024-11-23T21:11:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tillmario](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Tillmario)
#### Post date: [23 November 2024 21:11 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/change-msg-payload-does-not-work/93395/1 "2024-11-23T21:11:39Z")
Hi there,
I'm a beginner and was hoping someone could help me.
I have a Tasoma IR-Reader for my digital electricity meter. I configured MQTT, set the topic to "smartmeter" and then added an mqtt in node.
I configured the server to the IP of the Raspberry Pi4 running Node-RED and set the topic to "tele/smartmeter/SENSOR".
(QoS = 2; Output= parsed JSON)
a debug node (msg.payload) shows me all the data, so I suppose it is working the way that it should.
```auto
object
Time: "2024-11-23T21:16:14"
SML: object
Total_in: 14886.8561
Total_out: 0
Power_curr: 256
Volt_p1: 231.5
[...]
)
```
Now I only want the Power\_curr. So I put a change node right to the mqtt in. that didn't work, and i found this thread: [Change msg.payload to msg.payload.ANYNAME](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/change-msg-payload-to-msg-payload-anyname/32180)
i tried to apply it to my situation
so this is what i did.
but if i debug it with the output "msg.payload.SML.Power\_curr" i still get:
```auto
23.11.2024, 21:59:49node: debug 1
tele/smartmeter/SENSOR : msg.payload.SML.Power_curr : Object
object
Time: "2024-11-23T21:59:45"
SML: object
Total_in: 14887.1382
Total_out: 0
Power_curr: 284
Volt_p1: 231.8
Volt_p2: 231
Volt_p3: 231.2
Amperage_p1: 1.8
Amperage_p2: 0.6
Amperage_p3: 0.6
phase_angle_p1: -62
phase_angle_p2: -62
phase_angle_p3: -69
frequency: 50
```
What do i have to do to just get the value for "Power\_curr" (284)?
Greetings, Tom
---
### Author:  [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)
#### Post date: [23 November 2024 21:28 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/change-msg-payload-does-not-work/93395/2 "2024-11-23T21:28:50Z")
Welcome to the forum @Tillmario
Something like this should do it
There’s a great page in the docs ([Working with messages : Node-RED](https://nodered.org/docs/user-guide/messages)) that will explain how to use the debug panel to find the right path/value for any data item.
Pay particular attention to the part about the buttons that appear under your mouse pointer when you over hover a debug message property in the sidebar.
---
### Author:  [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)
#### Post date: [23 November 2024 21:30 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/change-msg-payload-does-not-work/93395/3 "2024-11-23T21:30:51Z")
Alternatively, there may be no need to extract it from the original payload in order to use it. What do you want to do with the value?
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [21 February 2025 21:31 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/change-msg-payload-does-not-work/93395/4 "2025-02-21T21:31:09Z")
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