diff --git a/templates/backup-cronjob.yaml b/templates/backup-cronjob.yaml
index 9aef2a7..d347b02 100644
--- a/templates/backup-cronjob.yaml
+++ b/templates/backup-cronjob.yaml
@@ -84,11 +84,14 @@ spec:
                     secretKeyRef:
                       name: {{ include "instance.fullname" . }}-pg
                       key: POSTGRES_PASSWORD
+                # PGDATABASE is the instance's real Odoo database, named
+                # after the release. The secret's POSTGRES_DB key points
+                # at the system DB Postgres init creates ("postgres"),
+                # which is empty — using it produced 374-byte useless
+                # dumps. Hardcode the release name so backups capture
+                # the real data regardless of chart-secret defaults.
                 - name: PGDATABASE
-                  valueFrom:
-                    secretKeyRef:
-                      name: {{ include "instance.fullname" . }}-pg
-                      key: POSTGRES_DB
+                  value: {{ .Release.Name | quote }}
                 - name: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
                   valueFrom:
                     secretKeyRef: