diff --git a/config.sh b/config.sh
index b7d8534..54f657b 100755
--- a/config.sh
+++ b/config.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 # modules location
 . "$HOME/.config/candybar/modules.sh"
 
+# network device, needed for upload and download modules
+export netdevice=""
+
 # module list. uncomment to enable.
 # re-arrange to change order.
 # module name		icon/prefix	suffix
diff --git a/modules.sh b/modules.sh
index a7ed9ea..262ceae 100755
--- a/modules.sh
+++ b/modules.sh
@@ -60,8 +60,6 @@ module_todo() {
 	[ "$todooutput" = "" ] || export bar="${bar}${1}${todooutput}${2}"
 }
 
-export netdevice=""
-
 module_upload() {
 	# https://github.com/speediegamer/xshbar-plugins/blob/main/netstat.plugin
 	up="$(cat /sys/class/net/${netdevice}/statistics/rx_bytes | awk '{$1=$1/1024000; print $1"B";}' | tail -n 1)"