diff --git a/sql.php b/sql.php
index d7a3229..ec6df68 100644
--- a/sql.php
+++ b/sql.php
@@ -22,6 +22,12 @@ class SQL {
     if ($this->h->connect_errno) {
       return false;
     }
+    // Keep prepared statement parameters and text columns on the same UTF-8
+    // encoding. Without this, valid UTF-8 input can be rejected by utf8mb4
+    // columns depending on the server's connection default.
+    if (! $this->h->set_charset ( 'utf8mb4' )) {
+      return false;
+    }
     return true;
   }
   public function get(string $que, string $t = '', mixed $p = array ()): array|false {