Private LN Node questions \ stacker news ~bitcoin

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403 sats \ 13 comments \ @Aardvark 4 Jan bitcoin_beginners

Ok, I've been looking to start my first private node and I think I'm settled on Alby (I am defiantly open to other suggestions though)

Right now, the only reason I plan on using it is connecting it to SN so I went with what looked like the most simple and basic thing out there. I figured it would be a good entry into lightning nodes. My question though, is about opening up my first lightning channel. Honestly I have zero idea on how much liquidity I need, or what channel I should use.

There are 4 different options with different maximum amounts and I don't feel like pissing sats away unnecessarily.

Any feedback would be useful, even if its that I should be using a different node, I'd rather make sure I'm making the correct decision before I start putting any sats on the line.

Thanks

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117 sats \ 1 reply \ @Skipper 4 Jan

Don't open small channels like 200K-500K. And do not RBF the transaction.

Get 2-3 channels of 1M sats each(with different peers) this will last you for long time(depending how much you will zap/get zapped). Don't open channels with random people, get good peers, @DarthCoin has a guide(obviously) about that: https://github.com/ZeusLN/zeus/discussions/2265

If you are only opening one, id go for Olympus Zeus maybe. The more diverse your channels/peers are, the less you will pay in fees and the less chance for payment failures.

After you opened the channels, you will have no inbound liquidity, you will have to transfer some sats to Coinos.io(or someone else) to free up inbound liquidity, you can swap them back for onchain sats or leave them on Coinos for future needs, your choice.

35 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 4 Jan

Don't open small channels like 200K-500K. And do not RBF the transaction.

This is something I'm coming to appreciate.

73 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 4 Jan

You don't need to buy inbound liquidity. Follow my guide as Undisciplined's post mentions

30 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aardvark OP 4 Jan

Thanks much for making the guide

21 sats \ 8 replies \ @Undisciplined 4 Jan

I recommend following @SimpleStacker's guide, because he covers opening a channel directly to Stacker News: #723978

I ultimately switched from private channels to public, because there were some issues with finding a route when I had only private channels: #737200

There are tradeoffs, though, and I know @DarthCoin recommends keeping channels private.

31 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aardvark OP 4 Jan

Yea i was going off his guides that said just to start simple and learn by going private.

66 sats \ 6 replies \ @DarthCoin 4 Jan

If you use that node only with SN, and open a private channel with SN node, you don't need anything else. But the fun part start when you want to move those sats to another place or start making payments. SN node MUST provide you the right routes, because is the SINGLE LSP for you node.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 4 Jan

When you say to have SN be your only channel, you mean not having the initial inbound liquidity channel that you make during the set up process? I'm guessing you can skip that step, but I don't remember.

72 sats \ 1 reply \ @DarthCoin 4 Jan

As @SimpleStacker said in the guide: you do not need that "setup process"... Just open a channel with SN node, move out some sats from that channel and done, you have enough for send/receive. Of course, open a good size of the channel to cover your zaps in a certain period.

You will need an inbound channel from all those listed LSPs in Alby ONLY if you want to receive sats from many other sources, not SN. But that is another story and I explain it in other of my guides.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 4 Jan

That makes sense and is probably what was wrong with my setup initially.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Aardvark OP 4 Jan

I've been working off your guide. You think I should stick with alby, or use a different one?

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @DarthCoin 4 Jan

Alby is enough for using with SN. @SimpleStacker guide is straight away is all you need: #723978

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aardvark OP 4 Jan

Thanks DC