diff --git a/webif/lib/settings.class b/webif/lib/settings.class
index fa74b11..ac7c6d5 100644
--- a/webif/lib/settings.class
+++ b/webif/lib/settings.class
@@ -57,8 +57,8 @@ class settings {
 proc {settings _safer_query} { queryText args } {
 	global settingsdb
 
-	# allow 5 (too many?) tries with 1s (too long?) delay to get access
-	for {set lockCnt 5} {true} {sleep 1} {
+	# allow 4 tries from 0.5s delay, doubling, to get access
+	for {set lockCnt 4; set delay 0.5} {true} {sleep $delay; set delay $(2*$delay)} {
 		try {
 			return [$settingsdb query $queryText {*}$arg]
 		} on error {msg opts} {