Channels appearing as inactive

Support and Troubleshooting
1

Recently (possibly since the last Umbrel update) I am noticing that many, or sometimes all, of my channels frequently appear inactive. This happens suddenly and usually lasts only briefly (e.g. a few minutes) and then they become active again – often all at once, but not always. In the past I’ve only ever noticed maybe 1 or 2 channels being inactive and that only very occasionally.

Has anyone else experienced similar behaviour?

2

I also regularly have this problem. At least 5 to 10 different channels are regularly offline. Mostly the users then make an update or the node is just offline and the owners usually notice it very much later. is often annoying but there only a large number of channels help to continue liquid

3

Seems odd that until about a week ago, I rarely observed inactive channels. Right now for example, only 1 of my 8 channels is showing as active. Five minutes ago, they were all active. Probably in another few minutes, they’ll all be active again…

4

Unstable network is the main reason. Chose wisely your peers.
One thing you can do is to push the gossip to connect to those lost peers, by adding their nodeid as peer again in your node.

5

Thanks for the advice. Is the network particularly unstable at the moment or is it always this way and I’ve just never noticed it?

6

No, is YOUR network, not “the network” in general…

7

Well, that’s a relief I suppose! What are the best criteria for determining reliable peers?

8

As a new node, you will have to connect first to nodes that already have a good reputation.
Here is my personal criteria if my node is new:

  • I do not look to connect straight to BOS nodes. I think that BOS score is flawed and is not transparent at all
  • I connect to those nodes that have already at least 20-30 channels open. That offers me a better route for my own payments first.
  • I connect to those nodes that are using decent fee policies. I never connect to nodes that are using exorbitant fees and are in this game only for personal gainz. Fuck that shit.
  • I connect to nodes that I previously watch for a while, and see their time being offline, how they change their fees, what channels they open/close, their participation in other groups etc
  • I connect to those services that I use to pay with LN. By opening a channel towards them and then you start making payments for their products/services, you skip all the routing through others and fees. You help them having inbound and you help you by having a direct channel with them.

This is a slow process, that is not done in 1 week, you will need a lot of patience and study also using tools like LN explorers, insights, simulators etc.
Here some resources

Once you have 10-15 channels open, then you can expand your networking participating in Rings of Fire and https://LightningNetwork.plus rings. There you can join to new rings that connect many nodes with many different policies. Also you can help noobs like you were, offering them their new conenctions to start.

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9

Thank you Darth. You provide a wealth of advice to the uninitiated here. Certainly, one thing I am realising is that there is no need to rush into creating channels. I’m in it for the long haul! The more we all understand about how this network functions, the stronger it will surely become.

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