diff --git a/pymodbus/register_write_message.py b/pymodbus/register_write_message.py
index 4ff21ac9c..b49db4901 100644
--- a/pymodbus/register_write_message.py
+++ b/pymodbus/register_write_message.py
@@ -132,9 +132,11 @@ def __init__(self, address=None, values=None, **kwargs):
         '''
         ModbusRequest.__init__(self, **kwargs)
         self.address = address
-        self.values = values or []
-        if not hasattr(values, '__iter__'):
-            self.values = [values]
+        if values is None:
+            values = []
+        elif not hasattr(values, '__iter__'):
+            values = [values]
+        self.values = values
         self.count = len(self.values)
         self.byte_count = self.count * 2
 
diff --git a/test/test_client_sync.py b/test/test_client_sync.py
index e03ecaf98..6f118d282 100644
--- a/test/test_client_sync.py
+++ b/test/test_client_sync.py
@@ -97,7 +97,10 @@ def testUdpClientAddressFamily(self):
     def testUdpClientConnect(self):
         ''' Test the Udp client connection method'''
         with patch.object(socket, 'socket') as mock_method:
-            mock_method.return_value = object()
+            class DummySocket(object):
+                def settimeout(self, *a, **kwa):
+                    pass
+            mock_method.return_value = DummySocket()
             client = ModbusUdpClient()
             self.assertTrue(client.connect())
 
diff --git a/test/test_payload.py b/test/test_payload.py
index 453d82fce..302df5824 100644
--- a/test/test_payload.py
+++ b/test/test_payload.py
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ def testPayloadDecoderRegisterFactory(self):
         ''' Test the payload decoder reset functionality '''
         payload = [1,2,3,4]
         decoder = BinaryPayloadDecoder.fromRegisters(payload, endian=Endian.Little)
-        encoded = '\x00\x01\x00\x02\x00\x03\x00\x04'
+        encoded = '\x01\x00\x02\x00\x03\x00\x04\x00'
         self.assertEqual(encoded, decoder.decode_string(8))
 
         decoder = BinaryPayloadDecoder.fromRegisters(payload, endian=Endian.Big)