Been using the Conbee II for ZHA since I started, through several HA iterations both VM and bare metal (currently running on a Dell Optiplex under Proxmox). I have the Conbee II on a USB extension, and just under 50 zigbee devices connected in total.
After the news that Philips was intent on forcing the use of accounts for the Hue ecosystem, I removed all my devices from the Hue hub, decommissioned the hub, and added the devices to ZHA directly via the Conbee II. This is around 20 devices, the vast majority of which are bulbs, but with one switched plug, and 3 dimmers.
Since adding the bulbs directly to the Zigbee mesh, I’m having repeated issues with several of the bulbs dropping connection, and not responding to commands. I’ve had some bulbs do this multiple times, including one bulb that’s done it two days in a row. I do get the occasional period of a few days when nothing breaks, and it seems entirely random which bulb decides to quit working at any given time.
Not every bulb has (yet) had this issue, so maybe it’s a firmware-related issue, but since it’s next to impossible to OTA flash the Hue bulbs without the hub, not sure it matters.
Any suggestions on ways to improve reliability? I don’t think the issue is the strength of the mesh, as almost every case of the bulb going rogue is taking place in a room with multiple other bulbs that are able to act as repeaters. And the signal strength of the network is solid.
You might have a look at my comments on a similar issue at link below.
I have had good success with the OTA functions on Zigbee2MQTT, especially with my Hue devices (though I do not have many of their newer items).
You do not mention the firmware version of the Conbee coordinator device, while I do not have experience with this device, I have read some post around issues with firmware versions there.
I have had good experience with Hue bulbs as Zigbee router devices. As long as you are not physically powering them on and off…
Z2M might be something to try, if I can’t find another solution. I don’t have so many devices that it would be completely disruptive, but it would be a pain in the butt for sure, removing and re-pairing all the devices.
I’m skeptical that the Conbee II is the issue, since the problems I’m seeing are limited to just the Hue bulbs. Hue dimmers are having no problems, nor a Hue switchable receptacle. I have a bunch of Ikea buttons and sensors, all of which work fine (with the exception of when the batteries get low, which isn’t always reported reliably in HA), as well as some Aqara sensors.
On the ZHA side, it might be worth making the switch there, as I’ve already got experience with MQTT, and I already have Mosquitto set up as an add-on, as well as a test MQTT broker outside my network. But if I went with Z2M, I’d probably set up a dedicated broker in Proxmox alongside my HA VM, so it would at least be running in it’s own VM/Container. I’m just leery of adding a new thing to learn given that my system is already pretty complex (main reason I have MQTT running already is to support a Sonoff 433Mhz RF bridge running Tasmota FW).