Just arrived in the mail - can’t wait to start running my own node 🤘🏼
For anyone holding Bitcoin, I think reaching this point is key, and learning the ins and outs along the way is pretty exciting. I’d love to hear any tips, tricks, or things to keep in mind for the setup, especially with setting up Lightning channels. The more insights, the better - thanks in advance!
#plebchain #bitcoin nostr:npub126ntw5mnermmj0znhjhgdk8lh2af72sm8qfzq48umdlnhaj9kuns3le9ll 
Oooooh, nice👌🏻.
I think that might be my next little project too, actually.
Join with me!
We would both be learning from scratch, it would seem😬😂.
Understand what you're actually trying to accomplish with lightning before setting up a node. As much as some might hate the hub and spoke model of LSPs, they make a lot of sense if youre goal is a sovereign lightning wallet for spending.
Absolutely. That is the goal, and the ability to process payments from webshops that I will set up.
I... Went another route, but, that's definitely a good piece of kit.
Yeah I know you did. That’s cool too. I just find this more convenient for me atm. Stoked to tinker and go down more rabbit holes
Oh, for sure. Plus you get really stellar support out of the box.
Right. I didn’t mind paying the premium because of that. Build very solid too
What is your setup like? LN channels and etc
I'm running a proxmox server on a Lenovo M920x Tiny PC. This runs startOS and home assistant, currently (but I have a few other things to run, also). I am still figuring out a few things before I start syncing the necessary BTC node.
I low-key detest lightning at this point. I am not sure what lighting setup I'll end up with, yet. But, I will definitely be running my own BTC node and mempool instance for the purposes of privacy.
I'm at the same stage, the barrier to entry for getting my own lightning node setup is ridiculous, and I consider myself pretty tech savvy. There needs to be a LOT of improvement to make this easy for the masses.
I’m sure you have already, but have you looked into nostr:npub1getal6ykt05fsz5nqu4uld09nfj3y3qxmv8crys4aeut53unfvlqr80nfm? I know they’re coming out with some new interesting integrations for all of that.
I don’t know if you’ve ever done this before but I’d begin by:
1. syncing your own bitcoin node
2. syncing electrs, which is like a search engine for the chain that other apps can use
3. install Sparrow on a different machine and connecting it to your node by connecting to electrs
4. Install your own mempool.space instance
Then using that setup to transfer SMALL amounts of sats in sparrow to say blue wallet and back till you get confident.
Once you get there you can play with multisig in sparrow and get the hang of that too.
First time doing this yeah. I’ve watched a lot of videos though on how to do this and from what you’ve mentioned I’m familiar with, and I have been using sparrow for a while now. I love it.
Sparrow rules
Easy UTXO mgmt
I have a question actually; what happens to the node if power is lost, or disconnected? Would I have to redownload the entire blockchain or would it start off from where it was last?
Power loss is fine for a regular Bitcoin node it incrementally syncs from where it left off. I think the rule for lightning nodes is that you don’t want your node to be offline for more than 14 days as your channel partners could theoretically do sneaky things and steal funds. Ideally your lightning node is running 24/7 but a few hours or days of downtime should not be a big deal.
Great, thank you !
One clarification when you connect sparrow to your own node or electrs it needs to be fully synced or sparrow won’t be able to transact because it isn’t up to date. This isn’t a problem - I leave my node off for weeks then sync it before i do anything in sparrow. However if your node is backing your lightning node then just leaving it running is the best policy.
🫡⚡️🤘🏼
What if you take your node to a different location? I’m sure you have to reconfigure the ip address and tor stuff?
I generally don’t run tor only - but just connecting to a different WiFi and it will be fine. From memory start9 will have some tor connections and some regular ones in the mix.
If you want to run tor only and travel discreetly then Tails is pretty cool as it runs off a usb stick then and you just plug it into any old laptop to boot it up but that’s mostly for fun not required as a first step.
Lopp has some decent recommendations on home
VPN options on one of his blogs. That’s mostly what I use but it limited my ability to get inbound connections to my node. FWIW clearnet syncs way faster and still way more private than using a third party node.
I have done 1, 3 and 4. Not sure about electrs.. will check out.. can it be used with mynode ?
Yup it’s available on start9. I think it’s a pre requisite for the mempool app so it will prompt you when you need it, I could be wrong that you have use it to connect sparrow to your node but that’s how I always do it
Are you also going to run your own Nostr relay? If only to ensure all your own notes are backed up? That's what I was thinking to do (when I get mine).
yeah absolutely. Would love to learn how to do that as well, so if you have any intel on that feel free to share! 🤘🏼
Haven't got mine, yet, but Start9 has great docs on their site: (this is specific to their Nostr relay setup) https://docs.start9.com/0.3.5.x/service-guides/nostr/index
Very cool. I will look at it in a bit, but is this for “their” relay or just something to use for setting up our own?
Setting up your own. That's the point of Start9. It's all your own. Your own server with your own services serving your own needs. Also, because of this, look into backup systems because IF this thing dies in some horrible event (fire, flood, surge, etc) you will lose whatever is on it. It's not automatically backed up anywhere off-site.
What would you recommend for back up systems?
Congrats! Running your own node changes everything. GL 🤙
Thanks F! I thank you for motivating me to do this!
