This is really a question directed to @DarthCoin. I am really enjoying using Blixt wallet, but the battery usage is killing me. I have chosen to open three channels: one the automatic channel opened by Blixt initially, one to my node, and one to a vendor to whom I make frequent payments. I chose to have the app running in the background to avoid channel closures, but it is killing my battery. Any suggestions?

Disclaimer:

I do not work for Blixt or Zeus or any other Bitcoin app team. I only help the devs team with testing, documentation, sometimes helpdesk and .... memes. I am not paid in any way by them. I do this only because I love Bitcoin and I know quite well most of the BTC LN wallet apps. This is how anybody could help FOSS apps.
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Great FOSS example-setter and unofficial mentor to all who wish to learn!
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for someone who hates the concept of state and government, you love using disclaimers and other legalese
Please don't say contract law is natural law
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Yes it could kill the battery in some cases. In the end is a full LND node on your phone :) What you should do:
  1. In settings go and find the option to compact DB. See here the FAQ section:. This will reduce dramatically the use of your battery.
  2. Do not leave Blixt in persistent mode if you do not really need it. Yes, Blixt can run 24/7 like any other LN node if you activate that option. But being a private mobile node, not always you need it online.
When do you need it online 24/7 ?
  • if you are a small shop using it as a PoS to charge in sats and you need fast sync and ready to receive
  • if you use a lot the LN Box (LN address provided by Blixt) and you want to stay online to receive.
  • if you are making several payments in one day, let's say you are going on shopping spree and want to have fast instant payments (no waiting for sync).
Otherwise there's no need to keep it in persistent mode. The neutrino and graph sync could take just few moments if you already sync it a previous day.
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Thanks for this excellent reply. I knew who to ask😀 One more question: The reason I chose persistent is because I was afraid that if my channels remain inactive for a day or so, or if they repeatedly switch from active to inactive, the peers would be more likely to close the channel. Is this true or not?
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No problem with going offline for few days. Remember this is a private node, not a routing node. Those channels will be closed by your peers ONLY if for a long period of time you do not have any activity in/out and most of the balance is on THEIR side (it means they kept funds locked doing nothing).
if they repeatedly switch from active to inactive
That is valid ONLY for public routing nodes.
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FWIW I've seen nodes leave channels open for literally months even when the node has been entirely inactive.
The Lightning protocol itself has no specific time limits on channels. They can remain open indefinitely as long as both sides choose not to close them.
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Thanks. That's a big help. No more persistent mode.
As it's suggested by @DarthCoin, he is the best person to reply it. I can just say that I've started using Mutiny recently and it's working very nice. Hope it's safe as well!
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I use three lightning wallets right now: Mutiny Zeus Blixt
By using all three for different purposes, I feel like I am learning a lot. I try different things and screw things up, then read @DarthCoin guides (again) to solve the problems. I like Mutiny, but the federation thing was a little annoying. I use it mostly for nostr zapping. I love Zeus. I manage my own node with it, so I have never tried the LSP. I have just been using Blixt for a month or so. It can do so many things, and it has good documentation, so I think it's a great wallet and learning tool.
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Thank you so much! I've not touched Fedimints thing there.
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I don't want to discourage you from playing around with it. It's a good wallet.
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But, there's no way we can know that a fedmint is genuine!
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We'll, it's not trustless.
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I just had it downloaded for minutes and instantly found it. My battery went brrrr with it..
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Blixt developers call it a wallet for "power users" exactly for this reason. j/k. 😁
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I haven’t had battery issues due to it but not using it much so that might be why. I have had it crash a few times when opening it.
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Did you open channels manually, or do you use the Dunder LSP?
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LSP
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Okay. I chose to complicate my life. I'm always doing that!
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54 sats \ 1 reply \ @grayruby 8 Jul
Learning along the way though.
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And then I forget everything I learn in a week or so.
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Blixtwallet is my main LN wallet, it is used daily and is in persistent mode. It just works. I see no battery issues at all. I am only running two LSP channels, one automatically opened and a larger one I purchased.
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Interesting. I wonder if it's got something to do with the fact that I'm not using the LSP, but opening my own channels? When using persistent mode, Blixt is 92% of my battery usage
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Seems like a place to start. However, like Darthcoin said you could just open periodically to see what you get.
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That's what I'm doing, but I'm going to play around with the settings. I like the idea of a 24/7 mobile node.
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Remove it and use Valet ♦
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75 sats \ 1 reply \ @zklsbn 8 Jul
deleted by author
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Thanks for the response. It is updated to latest version. I will try Darth's recommendation re compacting DB and yours re scheduled chain sync. I don't know whether this matters, but I'm on graphene OS Pixel 7
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