diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b032c92..94ffe5e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -121,7 +121,8 @@ var client = new RPCclient({
     user: 'dash',
     pass: 'local321', 
     host: '127.0.0.1', 
-    port: 19998
+    port: 19998,
+    timeout: 1000
 });
 
 var cb = function (err, data) {
diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index 430d9d8..504310c 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ function RpcClient(opts) {
   this.port = opts.port || 9998;
   this.user = opts.user || 'user';
   this.pass = opts.pass || 'pass';
+  this.timeout = opts.timeout;
   this.protocol = opts.protocol === 'http' ? http : https;
   this.batchedCalls = null;
   this.disableAgent = opts.disableAgent || false;
@@ -74,6 +75,10 @@ function innerRpc(request, callback) {
     port: self.port,
     rejectUnauthorized: self.rejectUnauthorized,
     agent: self.disableAgent ? false : undefined,
+};
+
+if (self.timeout) {
+  options.timeout = self.timeout;
   };
 
   if (self.httpOptions) {
@@ -142,6 +147,11 @@ function innerRpc(request, callback) {
     }
   });
 
+  req.on('timeout', () => {
+    const err = new Error(`Timeout Error: ${options.timeout}ms exceeded`);
+    callback(err);
+  });
+
   req.setHeader('Content-Length', request.length);
   req.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
   req.setHeader('Authorization', `Basic ${auth}`);
@@ -156,6 +166,10 @@ RpcClient.prototype.batch = function (batchCallback, resultCallback) {
   this.batchedCalls = null;
 };
 
+RpcClient.prototype.setTimeout = function (timeout) {
+  this.timeout = timeout;
+}
+
 // For definitions of RPC calls, see various files in: https://github.com/dashpay/dash/tree/master/src
 RpcClient.callspec = {
   abandonTransaction: 'str',
diff --git a/test/index.js b/test/index.js
index 9332748..dc2fab2 100644
--- a/test/index.js
+++ b/test/index.js
@@ -525,4 +525,32 @@ describe('RpcClient', function() {
 
   });
 
-});
+  it('should throw error when timeout is triggered', (done) => {
+    var client = new RpcClient({
+      user: 'user',
+      pass: 'pass',
+      host: 'localhost',
+      port: 8332,
+    });
+
+    client.httpOptions = {
+      timeout: 100
+    };
+
+    var requestStub = sinon.stub(client.protocol, 'request').callsFake(function (options, callback) {
+      var req = new FakeRequest();
+      setTimeout(function () {
+        req.emit('timeout');
+      }, options.timeout);
+      return req;
+    });
+
+    client.getDifficulty((error, parsedBuf) => {
+      should.exist(error);
+      should.not.exist(parsedBuf);
+      error.message.should.equal(`Timeout Error: ${client.httpOptions.timeout}ms exceeded`);
+      requestStub.restore();
+      done();
+    })
+  });
+})