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Once you have one of these two apps installed in your node it's easy!
Copy SN Lightning Node public key (or Node Alias) you find in the site footer
Clearnet: 03cc1d0932bb99b0697f5b5e5961b83ab7fd66f1efc4c9f5c7bad66c1bcbe78f02@52.5.194.83:9735
Or via Tor: 03cc1d0932bb99b0697f5b5e5961b83ab7fd66f1efc4c9f5c7bad66c1bcbe78f02@xhlmkj7mfrl6ejnczfwl2vqik3xim6wzmurc2vlyfoqw2sasaocgpuad.onion:9735

How to open a Private Channel using ThunderHub app

After logging in:
  1. head to the Lightning > Peers/Channels section in the sidebar:
  2. Click the Open Channel button
  3. Insert the copied SN public key into the Node Alias input
  4. Insert the sats amount you want your channel to be able to receive
  5. Turn ON the Private channel toggle
  6. Click the Open Channel button
  7. That's it! Just wait for next block confirmation (depending on the selected fees/vb)

How to open a Private Channel using RideTheLightning app

After logging in:
  1. you should be in the Home screen
  2. Click on Open in the Quick Actions section
  3. You'll see multiple option, the one that interest you is the less visible at the bottom. Click the small Open button
  4. You'll be presented with a new section and multiple options. If SN node is not a peer yet, select Yes and paste SN public key into the Node Alias input.
  5. Set the Channel Size expressed in sats, Fee Rate (you'll charge to route payments - I suggest put this to zero as is a private one) and Fees Amount (in sats/vBytes, this will be the price you willing to pay to open the channel. Check current rates in the ~mempool or select Auto)
  6. Finally, open the Advanced settings and select Private
  7. That's it! Just wait for next block confirmation (depending on the selected fees/vb)

Please let me know in the comment below if you have any question of issue!
Why private? A public channel could earn some routing fees.
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Sometime you want to keep things private. The network always find teh best path, so if you set your channel incorrect fees it will be drain and you'll be not able to use it for sending sats, incurring in extra cost to balance it again.
Private channels allow you to be in control. Running and maintain an routing node it's really hard work.. but is a good way to learn!
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in next week or two I will be moving my LND to new server. I am planing to open channel to SN. Maybe I did overlook but what is minimal size ?
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I think 1M sats is a good size, you could try 500k too but lower amounts may not worth.
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Fantastic, thank you!
A question: if the channel is private, does it still serve as a routing node for payments that I originate, so I could send payments to non-SN destinations? Or private means that sats can only flow between my node and the SN node?
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could send payments to non-SN destinations
Definitely, yes! the channel will route payments, in and out, from and to other nodes, not only to SN node.
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I tried opening a channel in Zeus w approx $50USD, but was told the channel was too small :(
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @OT 26 Dec
They're probably right. 50k sats is too small to open a LN channel.
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Are you using Zeus connected to your node or with LPS?
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I'm using the embedded node (LND) in the zeus app, trying to make a channel between that and this node referenced at the bottom of the site:
I've been able to connect to other lightning nodes and establish channels with them
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That's weird. In any case 50$ equals pretty much 50k sats, so it's definitely a small channel. Not sure Zeus has some validation check, but is certainly giving you good advice. Try to open a bigger channel if you can, either case, a channel supposed to stay open forever...
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The reason for me to open a channel would be to reduce fees when using this site. Even a small $50 channel would take a long long long time to be worth it. I have other channels open that I use for all my other transactions. Maybe I'll consider making a larger channel in the future if some of my other channels close for whatever reason.
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useful, thank you!
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