diff --git a/change_detect.go b/change_detect.go
index 19974ce47..67436585d 100644
--- a/change_detect.go
+++ b/change_detect.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package kapacitor
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/edge"
 	"github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/keyvalue"
@@ -56,17 +55,16 @@ type changeDetectGroup struct {
 func (g *changeDetectGroup) BeginBatch(begin edge.BeginBatchMessage) (edge.Message, error) {
 	if s := begin.SizeHint(); s > 0 {
 		begin = begin.ShallowCopy()
-		begin.SetSizeHint(s - 1)
+		begin.SetSizeHint(0)
 	}
 	g.previous = nil
 	return begin, nil
 }
 
 func (g *changeDetectGroup) BatchPoint(bp edge.BatchPointMessage) (edge.Message, error) {
-	np := bp.ShallowCopy()
-	emit := g.doChangeDetect(bp, np)
+	emit := g.doChangeDetect(bp)
 	if emit {
-		return np, nil
+		return bp, nil
 	}
 	return nil, nil
 }
@@ -76,39 +74,27 @@ func (g *changeDetectGroup) EndBatch(end edge.EndBatchMessage) (edge.Message, er
 }
 
 func (g *changeDetectGroup) Point(p edge.PointMessage) (edge.Message, error) {
-	np := p.ShallowCopy()
-	emit := g.doChangeDetect(p, np)
+	emit := g.doChangeDetect(p)
 	if emit {
-		return np, nil
+		return p, nil
 	}
 	return nil, nil
 }
 
 // doChangeDetect computes the changeDetect with respect to g.previous and p.
 // The resulting changeDetect value will be set on n.
-func (g *changeDetectGroup) doChangeDetect(p edge.FieldsTagsTimeGetter, n edge.FieldsTagsTimeSetter) bool {
+func (g *changeDetectGroup) doChangeDetect(p edge.FieldsTagsTimeGetter) bool {
 	var prevFields, currFields models.Fields
-	var prevTime, currTime time.Time
 	if g.previous != nil {
 		prevFields = g.previous.Fields()
-		prevTime = g.previous.Time()
 	}
 	currFields = p.Fields()
-	currTime = p.Time()
-	value, store, emit := g.n.changeDetect(
-		prevFields, currFields,
-		prevTime, currTime,
-	)
-	if store {
-		g.previous = p
-	}
+	emit := g.n.changeDetect(prevFields, currFields)
+
 	if !emit {
 		return false
 	}
-
-	fields := n.Fields().Copy()
-	fields[g.n.d.Field] = value
-	n.SetFields(fields)
+	g.previous = p
 	return true
 }
 
@@ -122,18 +108,18 @@ func (g *changeDetectGroup) DeleteGroup(d edge.DeleteGroupMessage) (edge.Message
 // changeDetect calculates the changeDetect between prev and cur.
 // Return is the resulting changeDetect, whether the current point should be
 // stored as previous, and whether the point result should be emitted.
-func (n *ChangeDetectNode) changeDetect(prev, curr models.Fields, prevTime, currTime time.Time) (interface{}, bool, bool) {
+func (n *ChangeDetectNode) changeDetect(prev, curr models.Fields) bool {
 
 	value, ok := curr[n.d.Field]
 	if !ok {
 		n.diag.Error("Invalid field in change detect",
 			fmt.Errorf("expected field %s not found", n.d.Field),
 			keyvalue.KV("field", n.d.Field))
-		return 0, false, false
+		return false
 	}
 	if prev[n.d.Field] == value {
-		return value, false, false
+		return false
 	}
 
-	return value, true, true
+	return true
 }
diff --git a/integrations/streamer_test.go b/integrations/streamer_test.go
index 82d06b67f..e6649e645 100644
--- a/integrations/streamer_test.go
+++ b/integrations/streamer_test.go
@@ -146,8 +146,7 @@ stream
 
 func TestStream_ChangeDetect(t *testing.T) {
 
-	var script = `
-stream
+	var script = `stream
 	|from().measurement('packets')
 	|changeDetect('value')
     |window()
diff --git a/pipeline/change_detect.go b/pipeline/change_detect.go
index c1c08d87f..b709f5fdd 100644
--- a/pipeline/change_detect.go
+++ b/pipeline/change_detect.go
@@ -15,10 +15,27 @@ import (
 // Example:
 //     stream
 //         |from()
-//             .measurement('net_rx_packets')
+//             .measurement('packets')
 //         |changeDetect('value')
 //         ...
 //
+// with source data:
+// packets value="bad" 0000000000
+// packets value="good" 0000000001
+// packets value="bad" 0000000002
+// packets value="bad" 0000000003
+// packets value="bad" 0000000004
+// packets value="good" 0000000005
+//
+// Would have output:
+// packets value="bad" 0000000000
+// packets value="good" 0000000001
+// packets value="bad" 0000000002
+// packets value="good" 0000000005
+//
+// Where the data are unchanged, but only the points
+// where the value changes from the previous value are
+// emitted.
 
 type ChangeDetectNode struct {
 	chainnode `json:"-"`
diff --git a/pipeline/tick/change_detect_test.go b/pipeline/tick/change_detect_test.go
index 1af0720a9..31dd3c621 100644
--- a/pipeline/tick/change_detect_test.go
+++ b/pipeline/tick/change_detect_test.go
@@ -2,22 +2,15 @@ package tick_test
 
 import (
 	"testing"
-	"time"
 )
 
 func TestChangeDetect(t *testing.T) {
 	pipe, _, from := StreamFrom()
-	d := from.ChangeDetect("work")
-	d.As = "very important"
-	d.Unit = time.Hour
-	d.NonNegative()
+	from.ChangeDetect("work")
 
 	want := `stream
     |from()
     |changeDetect('work')
-        .as('very important')
-        .unit(1h)
-        .nonNegative()
 `
 	PipelineTickTestHelper(t, pipe, want)
 }