<p>Not all implementations support multiple channels between two nodes. That is why I would advise against that practice. Also I do not really see an advantage of having two channels. We don't have Atomic multipath routing yet so in general it makes more sense to have larger channels.</p>

<p>Only counter argument I see is that one channel can only have 483 htlcs stimulaniously. So imagine you are an extremely well doing routing node and have a channel to another node of that kind you might want to go beyond 483 htlcs and open up another channel. I would however doubt that this situation will come up in real life as you would probably already have more than 1 lightning node running in such a situation. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-02T16:13:12.413Z
2019-02-02T16:13:12.413Z
Rene Pickhardt
<p>I recently opened a second channel to a peer to add more capacity. The old channel is small, but good. There's no reason to close it. With the second channel, which is larger, I can provide a better routing experience. I'd prefer having a single channel with the combined capacity, though.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-19T15:30:21.243Z
2021-05-19T15:30:21.243Z
C-Otto
<p>Can this case be meaningful to have two channels?</p>
<ol>
<li>I opened one channel which was 300k sat.</li>
<li>It worked well but I found out it was not of enough capacity.</li>
<li>Not to spend time closing and reopening a channel, I could open another, larger channel to the same node and when it's up, close the first one.</li>
</ol>
<p>Will it help me to keep my channels and routing active all time and avoid down time?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-06-05T09:09:43.413Z
2023-06-05T09:09:43.413Z
Sergei Basharov
<p>With LND, you can open multiple channels to the same node. Is there any advantages to having multiple channels (to the same node) versus having one channel?</p>

<p>Eg. one channel with a capacity of 1 000 000 sats or two channels with 500 000 sats each?</p>

<lightning-network><ln-opening-channels><ln-channel-balance-management>
Lightning, multiple channels to the same node
DriftP
# Lightning, multiple channels to the same node

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-02-02)

With LND, you can open multiple channels to the same node. Is there any advantages to having multiple channels (to the same node) versus having one channel?

Eg. one channel with a capacity of 1 000 000 sats or two channels with 500 000 sats each?

**Tags:** lightning-network, ln-opening-channels, ln-channel-balance-management


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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-02-02. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Not all implementations support multiple channels between two nodes. That is why I would advise against that practice. Also I do not really see an advantage of having two channels. We don't have Atomic multipath routing yet so in general it makes more sense to have larger channels.

Only counter argument I see is that one channel can only have 483 htlcs stimulaniously. So imagine you are an extremely well doing routing node and have a channel to another node of that kind you might want to go beyond 483 htlcs and open up another channel. I would however doubt that this situation will come up in real life as you would probably already have more than 1 lightning node running in such a situation.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2021-05-19. Score: 0

I recently opened a second channel to a peer to add more capacity. The old channel is small, but good. There's no reason to close it. With the second channel, which is larger, I can provide a better routing experience. I'd prefer having a single channel with the combined capacity, though.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2023-06-05. Score: 0

Can this case be meaningful to have two channels?

1. I opened one channel which was 300k sat.
2. It worked well but I found out it was not of enough capacity.
3. Not to spend time closing and reopening a channel, I could open another, larger channel to the same node and when it's up, close the first one.

Will it help me to keep my channels and routing active all time and avoid down time?


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