diff --git a/plugins/outputs/influxdb/influxdb.go b/plugins/outputs/influxdb/influxdb.go
index 4a0becbbc5492..df3b34226ff6b 100644
--- a/plugins/outputs/influxdb/influxdb.go
+++ b/plugins/outputs/influxdb/influxdb.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package influxdb
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"io"
 	"log"
 	"math/rand"
 	"strings"
@@ -167,26 +166,29 @@ func (i *InfluxDB) Description() string {
 	return "Configuration for influxdb server to send metrics to"
 }
 
-func (i *InfluxDB) getReader(metrics []telegraf.Metric) io.Reader {
+func (i *InfluxDB) split(metrics []telegraf.Metric) []telegraf.Metric {
 	if !i.splitPayload {
-		return metric.NewReader(metrics)
+		return metrics
 	}
 
-	splitData := make([]telegraf.Metric, 0)
+	split := make([]telegraf.Metric, 0)
 	for _, m := range metrics {
-		splitData = append(splitData, m.Split(i.UDPPayload)...)
+		split = append(split, m.Split(i.UDPPayload)...)
 	}
-	return metric.NewReader(splitData)
+	return split
 }
 
 // Write will choose a random server in the cluster to write to until a successful write
 // occurs, logging each unsuccessful. If all servers fail, return error.
 func (i *InfluxDB) Write(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
+	metrics = i.split(metrics)
+
 	bufsize := 0
 	for _, m := range metrics {
 		bufsize += m.Len()
 	}
-	r := i.getReader(metrics)
+
+	r := metric.NewReader(metrics)
 
 	// This will get set to nil if a successful write occurs
 	err := fmt.Errorf("Could not write to any InfluxDB server in cluster")
diff --git a/plugins/outputs/influxdb/influxdb_test.go b/plugins/outputs/influxdb/influxdb_test.go
index fa0abd460efe4..04019794f217b 100644
--- a/plugins/outputs/influxdb/influxdb_test.go
+++ b/plugins/outputs/influxdb/influxdb_test.go
@@ -2,10 +2,15 @@ package influxdb
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/outputs/influxdb/client"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/testutil"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
@@ -58,6 +63,35 @@ func TestUDPInflux(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, i.Close())
 }
 
+func TestBasicSplit(t *testing.T) {
+	c := &MockClient{}
+	i := InfluxDB{
+		clients:      []client.Client{c},
+		UDPPayload:   50,
+		splitPayload: true,
+	}
+
+	// Input metrics:
+	// test1,tag1=value1 value1=1 value2=2 1257894000000000000\n
+	//
+	// Split metrics:
+	// test1,tag1=value1 value1=1 1257894000000000000\n
+	// test1,tag1=value1 value2=2 1257894000000000000\n
+	m, err := metric.New("test1",
+		map[string]string{"tag1": "value1"},
+		map[string]interface{}{"value1": 1.0, "value2": 2.0},
+		time.Date(2009, time.November, 10, 23, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC),
+	)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	metrics := []telegraf.Metric{m}
+	err = i.Write(metrics)
+	require.Equal(t, 1, c.writeStreamCalled)
+	require.Equal(t, 94, c.contentLength)
+
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+}
+
 func TestHTTPInflux(t *testing.T) {
 	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		switch r.URL.Path {
@@ -199,3 +233,34 @@ func TestHTTPError_FieldTypeConflict(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	require.NoError(t, i.Close())
 }
+
+type MockClient struct {
+	writeStreamCalled int
+	contentLength     int
+}
+
+func (m *MockClient) Query(command string) error {
+	panic("not implemented")
+}
+
+func (m *MockClient) Write(b []byte) (int, error) {
+	panic("not implemented")
+}
+
+func (m *MockClient) WriteWithParams(b []byte, params client.WriteParams) (int, error) {
+	panic("not implemented")
+}
+
+func (m *MockClient) WriteStream(b io.Reader, contentLength int) (int, error) {
+	m.writeStreamCalled++
+	m.contentLength = contentLength
+	return 0, nil
+}
+
+func (m *MockClient) WriteStreamWithParams(b io.Reader, contentLength int, params client.WriteParams) (int, error) {
+	panic("not implemented")
+}
+
+func (m *MockClient) Close() error {
+	panic("not implemented")
+}