diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c6437acf4..7cb1c17bc 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 - Rule Break not working as expected when ONCE is enabled (#9245)
 - Rule expressions using mems corrupts character pool (#9301)
 - Button press rules regression introduced by #9589 (#9700)
+- Rule handling of JSON ``null`` regression from v8.5.0.1 (#9685)
 
 ## [9.0.0.2] - 20201025
 ### Added
diff --git a/RELEASENOTES.md b/RELEASENOTES.md
index 04c0d69ae..258bcf56d 100644
--- a/RELEASENOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASENOTES.md
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ The attached binaries can also be downloaded from http://ota.tasmota.com/tasmota
 - Thermostat sensor status corruption regression from v8.5.0.1 (#9449)
 - Telegram message decoding error regression from v8.5.0.1
 - Rule handling of Var or Mem using text regression from v8.5.0.1 (#9540)
+- Rule handling of JSON ``null`` regression from v8.5.0.1 (#9685)
 - Correct Energy period display shortly after midnight by gominoa (#9536)
 - TuyaMcu energy display regression from v8.5.0.1 (#9547)
 - Tuyamcu dimmers MQTT topic (#9606)
diff --git a/lib/default/jsmn-shadinger-1.0/src/JsonParser.cpp b/lib/default/jsmn-shadinger-1.0/src/JsonParser.cpp
index 22d89424e..050505d07 100644
--- a/lib/default/jsmn-shadinger-1.0/src/JsonParser.cpp
+++ b/lib/default/jsmn-shadinger-1.0/src/JsonParser.cpp
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ const char * k_current_json_buffer = "";
 
 /*********************************************************************************************\
  * Lightweight String to Float, because atof() or strtof() takes 10KB
- * 
+ *
  * To remove code, exponents are not parsed
  * (commented out below, just in case we need them after all)
 \*********************************************************************************************/
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ float json_strtof(const char* s) {
   }
 
   while ((unsigned int)(*p - '0') < 10u) {
-    value = value*10 + (*p++ - '0');  
+    value = value*10 + (*p++ - '0');
   }
 
   if (*p == '.' ) {
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ float JsonParserToken::getFloat(float val) const {
 }
 const char * JsonParserToken::getStr(const char * val) const {
   if (t->type == JSMN_INVALID) { return val; }
-  if (t->type == JSMN_NULL) return "";
+  if (t->type == JSMN_NULL) return "null";
   return (t->type >= JSMN_STRING) ? &k_current_json_buffer[t->start] : val;
 }
 
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ JsonParserToken JsonParserObject::findStartsWith(const char * needle) const {
   if ((!this->isValid()) || (nullptr == needle) || (0 == pgm_read_byte(needle))) {
     return JsonParserToken(&token_bad);
   }
-  
+
   String needle_s((const __FlashStringHelper *)needle);
   needle_s.toLowerCase();
 
diff --git a/tasmota/xdrv_10_rules.ino b/tasmota/xdrv_10_rules.ino
index 528eb752b..854c1d5a3 100644
--- a/tasmota/xdrv_10_rules.ino
+++ b/tasmota/xdrv_10_rules.ino
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@
 
 #define XDRV_10             10
 
+//#define DEBUG_RULES
+
 #include <unishox.h>
 
 #define D_CMND_RULE "Rule"
@@ -424,7 +426,9 @@ bool RulesRuleMatch(uint8_t rule_set, String &event, String &rule, bool stop_all
   // rule_name  = "INA219#CURRENT"
   // rule_param = "0.100" or "%VAR1%"
 
-//AddLog_P2(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR("RUL: expr %s, name %s, param %s"), rule_expr.c_str(), rule_name.c_str(), rule_param.c_str());
+#ifdef DEBUG_RULES
+//  AddLog_P2(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR("RUL-RM1: expr %s, name %s, param %s"), rule_expr.c_str(), rule_name.c_str(), rule_param.c_str());
+#endif
 
   char rule_svalue[80] = { 0 };
   float rule_value = 0;
@@ -499,7 +503,7 @@ bool RulesRuleMatch(uint8_t rule_set, String &event, String &rule, bool stop_all
 
   String buf = event;   // copy the string into a new buffer that will be modified
 
-//AddLog_P2(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR("RUL: RulesRuleMatch |%s|"), buf.c_str());
+//AddLog_P2(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR("RUL-RM2: RulesRuleMatch |%s|"), buf.c_str());
 
   JsonParser parser((char*)buf.c_str());
   JsonParserObject obj = parser.getRootObject();
@@ -513,7 +517,7 @@ bool RulesRuleMatch(uint8_t rule_set, String &event, String &rule, bool stop_all
   while ((pos = rule_name.indexOf("#")) > 0) {         // "SUBTYPE1#SUBTYPE2#CURRENT"
     subtype = rule_name.substring(0, pos);
     obj = obj[subtype.c_str()].getObject();
-    if (!obj) { return false; }             // not found
+    if (!obj) { return false; }                        // not found
 
     rule_name = rule_name.substring(pos +1);
     if (i++ > 10) { return false; }                    // Abandon possible loop
@@ -522,7 +526,7 @@ bool RulesRuleMatch(uint8_t rule_set, String &event, String &rule, bool stop_all
   }
 
   JsonParserToken val = obj[rule_name.c_str()];
-  if (!val) { return false; }               // last level not found
+  if (!val) { return false; }                          // last level not found
   const char* str_value;
   if (rule_name_idx) {
     if (val.isArray()) {
@@ -531,11 +535,14 @@ bool RulesRuleMatch(uint8_t rule_set, String &event, String &rule, bool stop_all
       str_value = val.getStr();
     }
   } else {
-    str_value = val.getStr();                     // "CURRENT"
+    str_value = val.getStr();                          // "CURRENT"
   }
 
-//AddLog_P2(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR("RUL: Name %s, Value |%s|, TrigCnt %d, TrigSt %d, Source %s, Json %s"),
-//  rule_name.c_str(), rule_svalue, Rules.trigger_count[rule_set], bitRead(Rules.triggers[rule_set], Rules.trigger_count[rule_set]), event.c_str(), (str_value) ? str_value : "none");
+#ifdef DEBUG_RULES
+  AddLog_P2(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR("RUL-RM3: Name %s, Value |%s|, TrigCnt %d, TrigSt %d, Source %s, Json |%s|"),
+    rule_name.c_str(), rule_svalue, Rules.trigger_count[rule_set], bitRead(Rules.triggers[rule_set],
+    Rules.trigger_count[rule_set]), event.c_str(), (str_value[0] != '\0') ? str_value : "none");
+#endif
 
   Rules.event_value = str_value;                       // Prepare %value%
 
@@ -577,7 +584,7 @@ bool RulesRuleMatch(uint8_t rule_set, String &event, String &rule, bool stop_all
 
   if (stop_all_rules) { match = false; }
 
-//AddLog_P2(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR("RUL: Match 1 %d, Triggers %08X, TriggerCount %d"), match, Rules.triggers[rule_set], Rules.trigger_count[rule_set]);
+//AddLog_P2(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR("RUL-RM4: Match 1 %d, Triggers %08X, TriggerCount %d"), match, Rules.triggers[rule_set], Rules.trigger_count[rule_set]);
 
   if (bitRead(Settings.rule_once, rule_set)) {
     if (match) {                                       // Only allow match state changes
@@ -591,7 +598,7 @@ bool RulesRuleMatch(uint8_t rule_set, String &event, String &rule, bool stop_all
     }
   }
 
-//AddLog_P2(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR("RUL: Match 2 %d, Triggers %08X, TriggerCount %d"), match, Rules.triggers[rule_set], Rules.trigger_count[rule_set]);
+//AddLog_P2(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR("RUL-RM5: Match 2 %d, Triggers %08X, TriggerCount %d"), match, Rules.triggers[rule_set], Rules.trigger_count[rule_set]);
 
   return match;
 }
@@ -663,7 +670,7 @@ bool RuleSetProcess(uint8_t rule_set, String &event_saved)
 
   delay(0);                                               // Prohibit possible loop software watchdog
 
-//AddLog_P2(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR("RUL: Event = %s, Rule = %s"), event_saved.c_str(), Settings.rules[rule_set]);
+//AddLog_P2(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR("RUL-RP1: Event = %s, Rule = %s"), event_saved.c_str(), Settings.rules[rule_set]);
 
   String rules = GetRule(rule_set);
 
@@ -696,7 +703,9 @@ bool RuleSetProcess(uint8_t rule_set, String &event_saved)
     Rules.event_value = "";
     String event = event_saved;
 
-//AddLog_P2(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR("RUL: Event |%s|, Rule |%s|, Command(s) |%s|"), event.c_str(), event_trigger.c_str(), commands.c_str());
+#ifdef DEBUG_RULES
+//    AddLog_P2(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR("RUL-RP2: Event |%s|, Rule |%s|, Command(s) |%s|"), event.c_str(), event_trigger.c_str(), commands.c_str());
+#endif
 
     if (RulesRuleMatch(rule_set, event, event_trigger, stop_all_rules)) {
       if (plen == plen2) { stop_all_rules = true; }       // If BREAK was used on a triggered rule, Stop execution of this rule set