diff --git a/.github/workflows/python-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/python-tests.yml
index bdf7f135..d977652d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/python-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/python-tests.yml
@@ -187,9 +187,9 @@ jobs:
         -vv
       # macOS-latest + CPython completes in 9-15s
       # macOS-11.0 + CPython completes in 8s-12s
-      # ubuntu-16.04 + CPython completes in 8s-13s
+      # ubuntu-16.04 + CPython completes in 8s-2m12s
       # ubuntu-16.04 + PyPy completes in 13s-16s
-      # ubuntu-18.04 + CPython completes in 8s-13s
+      # ubuntu-18.04 + CPython completes in 8s-2m12s
       # ubuntu-18.04 + PyPy completes in 13s-15s
       # ubuntu-20.04 + CPython completes in 8s-14s
       # ubuntu-20.04 + PyPy completes in 13s-16s
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ jobs:
       # windows-latest + PyPy completes in 13s-24s
       # windows-2016 + CPython completes in 7s-11s
       # windows-2016 + PyPy completes in 13s-20s
-      timeout-minutes: 2
+      timeout-minutes: 3
     - name: Dump test logs on failure
       if: failure()
       shell: bash
diff --git a/magicbus/plugins/loggers.py b/magicbus/plugins/loggers.py
index bab3c12b..f71c9cd2 100644
--- a/magicbus/plugins/loggers.py
+++ b/magicbus/plugins/loggers.py
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ def log(self, msg, level):
             if self.encoding is not None:
                 if isinstance(complete_msg, unicodestr):
                     complete_msg = complete_msg.encode(self.encoding)
+            else:
+                if not isinstance(complete_msg, unicodestr):
+                    complete_msg = complete_msg.decode("utf-8")
 
             self.stream.write(complete_msg)
             self.stream.flush()
@@ -37,13 +40,13 @@ def log(self, msg, level):
 
 class StdoutLogger(StreamLogger):
 
-    def __init__(self, bus, level=None, format=None, encoding='utf-8'):
+    def __init__(self, bus, level=None, format=None, encoding=None):
         StreamLogger.__init__(self, bus, sys.stdout, level, format, encoding)
 
 
 class StderrLogger(StreamLogger):
 
-    def __init__(self, bus, level=None, format=None, encoding='utf-8'):
+    def __init__(self, bus, level=None, format=None, encoding=None):
         StreamLogger.__init__(self, bus, sys.stderr, level, format, encoding)