Lightning node i can open channel with \ stacker news ~lightning

238 sats \ 17 comments \ @BallLightning 17 Jun lightning freebie

Hello. Where can I find lightning nodes that will allow me to open a channel with them for free? I will open it from Zeus mobile wallet directly. All the initial liquidity will be on my side.

I want a basic normal lightning channel. NOT LSP.

I would like when i use the channel for payment, the liquidity that moves on the other side of the channel to be usable for incoming payments, as per the original lightning network design (Olympus node doesn't route payments to me eve when there is incoming liquidity).

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22 sats \ 11 replies \ @DarthCoin 17 Jun

Olympus node doesn't route payments to me eve when there is incoming liquidity

That doesn't mean Olympus is not the best peer for your Zeus. For sure there's more to investigate WHY wasn't let you make payments. Usually is because you are not well synced and / or you have a broken status of the zombies channels. So even if you open with another peers but you still didn't know WHY you cannot send payments, will be the same situation, or even worse, because in Olympus case, you can still have a direct contact with @evankaloudis and could help you investigate what happen with your Olympus channel.

IMHO, Olympus is a must have peer for Zeus. Then come Blixt Node, Voltage, LNbig, LNserver etc.

As recommendation of peers to use to open channels, I wrote here a step by step guide how to use Zeus with 3 peers and using advanced liquidity with MPP, for in and out payments.

Here is also a list of good nodes as peers for private nodes like Zeus, where other users are posting their experiences with them.

If you want more information about managing LN liquidity and peers, here I wrote another guide: https://darthcoin.substack.com/p/managing-lightning-node-liquidity from which you can inspire.

0 sats \ 10 replies \ @BallLightning OP 17 Jun

Hello. I am just experimenting with simple cases right now (as you can see i am only using Zeus, not a node with stable connection or something). I have already asked why i can't receive sats here: #561154 . Unfortunately I didn't get a satisfying answer. I closed the channel to zeus and I will try channels to other nodes.

32 sats \ 9 replies \ @DarthCoin 17 Jun

Zeus is just fine as a private LN node, that doesn't have to be always online (as a public routing node). For personal use is more than enough and is having powerful features as a LND node.

The Zeus docs are well written with a lot of details, explaining how to use it correctly. https://docs.zeusln.app/category/embedded-node I will strongly suggest to read them so you understand all the aspects of running such a LN node. More than that, Evan and others will help you anytime on the Zeus Telegram channel https://t.me/zeusLN if you have more questions.

I closed the channel to zeus and I will try channels to other nodes.

I do not understand why you did that. If the channel is OK opened and you are synced correctly, you do not have to close it. The channel with Olympus is necessary if you want to receive zaps through your LN address (zeuspay).

Also that channel, being private, when you create an invoice, is better to add route hints, so the senders could find your Zeus node through the LSP peer you have opened a channel (whatever would be that one). if you do not include route hints, the sender cannot "see" your Zeus node because is behind a public peer. Only if you have a direct channel with.

Route hints option can be activated in Settings - Invoice settings or simply when you create an invoice, click on advanced options and set to include the route hints. That means inside the invoice QR / code will include the last hop node that have a channel with your Zeus. That's all.

So I think you misunderstood how to use such a private LN node.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @john_doe 19 Jun

Interesting, I didn't know about the route hints. Inversely how would you explain that a payment could be sent successfully if it is private? I just tried to send a payment to my private node (unannounced set to true) and didn't get why it succeeds. A kind of cache remaining somewhere?

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @DarthCoin 19 Jun

The un-announced nodes/channels are linked to your direct peers (LSP or other public nodes) you have channels. But only your peers knows about the route towards your private node.

The private nodes also are storing a local copy of the LN graph so next time when you send a payment, it will "know" more or less a route towards another private node.

That's why if you run a private node, have at least one channel with a public node. You can have any number of direct private channels to transact with direct peers, but if you want to go out to any node available in LN, you must have at least one route through a public node that can reach more public and private nodes.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @john_doe 19 Jun

Ah I see, the public node advertised the route. Thank you!

0 sats \ 5 replies \ @BallLightning OP 17 Jun

As i have written in my original post, I did include route hints. Also I think everything was synced correctly because otherwise the wallet doesn't even allow me to create an invoice. Furthermore, as i already explained in my linked post, i can send through this channel no problem (that's how i had incoming liquidity, which btw was visible in the UI).

As for why I closed this channel - I don't have enough money to have many channels open. I use the money from the closed channel to open a new one to a different node.

10 sats \ 4 replies \ @DarthCoin 17 Jun

https://m.stacker.news/35720

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @BallLightning OP 17 Jun

Thanks, but this is not the problem for me, as i already said i was able to send sats (impossible with the channel partner offline).

Unfortunately I still CANNOT receive sats with channel to another node. The following are true:

I have 1000 sats incoming liquidity (visible in zeus UI in the channel description)
I create an invoice for 1 sat
The invoice includes route hints
I keep Zeus open
I try to fulfil the invoice by withdrawal from this site, it says no routes found FAIL
I try to fulfil the invoice from Mutiny and Moon - BOTH FAIL

Either I am missing something, or Zeus doesn't work correctly (who knows, maybe it can only work with wrapped invoices or something).

I will investigate (or not) later depending on my mood.

100 sats \ 2 replies \ @DarthCoin 17 Jun

You've opened a normal channel with funds from your onchain. If you were opening a 0conf channel with the Olympus LSP, you will get 100k sats also as inbound, right away and the channel is right away available.

That means:

without having any funds in Zeus you hit the receive button, put the amount you want to deposit, let's say 500k sats (I would not open a smaller channel)
then copy that LN invoice or scan it from another LN wallet and pay it
Olympus LSP will open instantly a conf channel with your Zeus node, pushing towards your side of4 the channel balance the 500k sats - 10k sats fee, but you will see that you will receive also a 100k inbound liquidity on that channel. So the channel will be in total of 600k volume, with 500k yours.

Read more here: https://docs.zeusln.app/for-users/embedded-node/lightning-onboarding And read here about the LSP: https://docs.zeusln.app/lsp/intro

But for sure you didn't read the docs before using Zeus, at least just to be informed about the options you have and how to proceed.

Also take in consideration the channel reserves and commit fees. Things that right now are not visible in the channel details (will be in a new version), but take in consideration a 1% as reserves.

You said that now it displays 1000 sats inbound available. I think you would need to move out some more sats, that small amount will not cover the cost of commit fees that can fluctuate in high fees periods.

If you really want to test it, be aware that 1 sat invoices sometimes could be rejected, due to others routing policies, try many different amounts, starting with 100 sats.

Sorry but if you do not have enough sats to play around, running a full LN node is not for you (yet).

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @BallLightning OP 18 Jun

OK, small update. I did try sending larger amount outward. And after that I did succeed receiving via this channel. So... success i guess?

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @BallLightning OP 17 Jun

I have read these. I don't want to mess with LSP before experiencing "normal" lightning channels. I don't exactly currently understand reserves. The channel displays 4152 local and 4152 remote reserve. As far as I understand these should cover eventual channel close? I also don't understand how the sum of liquidity and reserves don't make the channel capacity.

I will maybe try to send more sats outbound tomorrow and see if this will allow me to receive sats.

BTW do you people realize how unusable this is for non tech people that want to spend their time in some other way than learning why they can't transact? And even if you manage to abstract everything go explain to someone new that he has to pay money to receive money. I think that's why eCash, that people here love to hate, is and will gain more and more traction (And I still don't know why transactions in mutiny out of the fedimint cost 1%, but that's a different topic).

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0 sats \ 4 replies \ @Natalia 17 Jun freebie

go to https://1ml.com/ and do your homework.

One good direction to think about is who you would interact with the most, aka your needs, is it spending or as a merchant receiving.