diff --git a/phpgwapi/inc/adodb/datadict/datadict-postgres.inc.php b/phpgwapi/inc/adodb/datadict/datadict-postgres.inc.php
index d8f624c7ff..a2034f5645 100644
--- a/phpgwapi/inc/adodb/datadict/datadict-postgres.inc.php
+++ b/phpgwapi/inc/adodb/datadict/datadict-postgres.inc.php
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ class ADODB2_postgres extends ADODB_DataDict {
 				// we need to explicit convert varchar to a number to be able to do an AlterColumn of a char column to a nummeric one
 				if (preg_match('/'.$fld->name.' (I|I2|I4|I8|N|F)/i',$tableflds,$matches) && 
 					in_array($fld->type,array('varchar','char','text','bytea'))) {
-					$copyflds[] = "to_number($fld->name,'S99D99')";
+					$copyflds[] = "to_number($fld->name,'S9999999999999D99')";
 				} else {
 					$copyflds[] = $fld->name;
 				}
diff --git a/phpgwapi/inc/class.schema_proc.inc.php b/phpgwapi/inc/class.schema_proc.inc.php
index 6b8109f18e..a5dafec65f 100644
--- a/phpgwapi/inc/class.schema_proc.inc.php
+++ b/phpgwapi/inc/class.schema_proc.inc.php
@@ -438,7 +438,7 @@
 						in_array($old_table_def['fd'][$name]['type'],array('char','varchar','text','blob')) &&
 						in_array($data['type'],array('int','decimal')))
 					{
-						$value = "to_number($name,'S99D99')";
+						$value = "to_number($name,'S9999999999999D99')";
 					}
 				}
 				else	// new column => use default value or NULL