Holy crap, you’re right, it’s still in there. Good on you dude for finding that.
These changes wouldn’t make me so grumpy if they actually documented the changes as to more than a single line in a release note.
The docs often lag behind changes because the developer doesn’t know every page that references the functionality. It just means that we (the community) get to do cleanup 
The customizing docs now explain how to change entity IDs for all supported entities.
I’d expect that eventually the rename node service will go away, probably around when the new device model is introduced. As I’ve mentioned in a few threads here and on Discord, currently Z-Wave doesn’t fit the way the rest of Home Assistant does things, and the developers are trying to make it more seamless. That will mean a few changes like this along the way, where the functionality moves in line with everything else.
But unfortunately (as I’ve mentioned in a few threads here too ) ) it doesn’t ACTUALLY make it more seamless. I will grant that it makes it more consistent but that shouldn’t be the only goal. Ease of use and functionality should be the obvious ultimate goal.
Z wave also doesn’t follow the NORMAL device integration, either. Not when it adds many entities per device (as we’ve seen elsewhere up to 13 or more per device) so forcing us to have to rename 13 (or more…) entities manually instead of just one device is a BIG step away from ease of use JUST for the sake of consistency.
Perhaps this could be a gentle reminder that as HA grows, docs and/or transparency are really important? It seems like with each release there are a number of posts that follow immediately about something that was buried in the release notes. I know there are links to PRs, but stuff like the pyozw upgrade and its implications were kind of glossed over, and the z-wave interface changes weren’t mentioned at all (or are buried somewhere).
The only reason I figured out most of the stuff was looking at the source and doing a bunch of testing; that’s really hard for anyone who hasn’t followed the code at all, and impossible for a lot of people who are just users. I know HA likes to iterate at a breakneck pace and I’ve accepted that, but… I dunno, there’s a bit of a disconnect between that and users. Maybe time for a “stable” branch? That’s an entirely different discussion though.
1 Like
Can tell me how to change the Z-wave node name in the Z-wave config panel?
I’ve added a new node. It’s added and visible in the controle label dropdown with the name “FIBARO System FGD212 Dimmer 2”.
What I’ve done. I’ve added the entity that switched the light to of my groups and rename the Name and Enity ID’s. As discussed in the podcast. https://hasspodcast.io/ha033/ at 07:40. After this the enity has the right name and can be used in Node-red for example.
The problem is that rename action does not affect the main Z-wave node name. When I open the Z-wave control panel it still displays the old name “FIBARO System FGD212 Dimmer 2”. So as discussed above I hardly rename the entry in core.entity_registry and changed the name of the node and restart HA.
{
"config_entry_id": null,
"device_id": null,
"entity_id": "zwave.fibaro_dimmer2_hal",
"name": null,
"platform": "zwave",
"unique_id": "node-18"
},
Sad to say but after restarting the Z-wave config panel still displays the old default name. I’ve also stopped HA, start Domoticz en renames the names etc in the build-in OpenZwave config.
Anyone any suggestions? I’ve 15 more Fibaro dimmers to build-in. So I need to give them a logical name. 
Scroll up, read the rest of this thread which is about that functionality being removed
Instead, read the documentation on how to change the entity ID.
Note that the entity ID and the friendly name aren’t related. You need to change both of those, using the instructions in that link.
And while you’re at it you have to remember to change the friendly name and the entity_id of all the 13 other entities that get created for EVERY ONE of those 15 z wave devices that you still need to install.
By my calculation, if you change them all, that’s 390 entries that you will have to manually type in to properly organize your system. 
Or in the old system (that worked perfectly well) the number of entries you would have to have changed was 210. That’s almost twice the amount of work just to end up with the same result as before.
I can’t understand why no one that cares can see why this is not good.
3 Likes
Yeah I’ve already read that information above. I can’t find a method to rename the Z-Wave Nodes in the Z-Wave control panel. In the past I did that using the Rename option in the Z-Wave control panel and after that renaming the entities in entities.yaml. That last I can do with the new .storage folder, but there’s no methode to rename that Z-Wave node names in the Z-Wave control panel.
Correct. As I said, that’s what this whole thread is about. Home Assistant had two different UI approaches to changing the entity ID (and display names). Now it has one UI method for consistency - as explained in the documentation.
For anyone looking for a solution to renaming nodes (as many people in this thread have requested), the above advice to use the service zwave.node_rename worked for me.
Here’s a dumbed down explanation for dummies like me who took a while to understand how to use the service.
-
Under the “services” developer tool, (frontend lefthand menu, 1st icon at the bottom) select the Service
zwave.rename_node
-
Under the Service Data, input the following:
{
“node_id”: “enter_node_id_here”,
“name”: “Enter_new_name_here”
}
Note:
- The node_id is a numerical digit (visible in the Zwave Configuration in parentheses under “nodes”, and also as an entity id attribute)
- The new name shouldn’t include the zwave prefix; just enter a new name.
I didn’t have to restart home assistant for the changes to occur - they were immediate.
8 Likes
Does this still work? I’m trying to update some misnamed nodes using a service call, but HA gives me a JSON Invalid message, so I cannot click Call Service. Trying to rename with:
{ “node_id”: "40", "name": "side_door_light" }
check your quote marks. At least the one’s on the node-id are the “fancy” non-text style.
try this instead:
{ "node_id":"40", "name": "side_door_light" }
if you look closely you’ll see the difference.
2 Likes
That did it, thanks!
@tismondo Thanks for this. It saved me a tremendous amount of hassle. I know its a pain to put the effort into documenting after having spent all this time figuring it out in the first place, but your effort has helped me a lot and I’m sure many others.
*Also worth mentioning is that once you have renamed the node, if you stop and restart the z-wave network it will rename all derived entities off the node using the new node name.
I’ve been struggling to rename newly added z-wave nodes ever since I upgraded form a ancient version of home assistant to 0.84.2.
I’ve tried the solution provided by @tismondo , but it seems that the entity id is not changed, wich did happen in the old version of home assistant.
For instance, the entity id of the z-wave device is zwave.eurotronic_eur_spiritz_wall_radiator_thermostat after inclusion.
When I use the zwave.rename_node command to chnage it to “tkGroteZolderkamer”, I see that the node_name and friendly_name change, but the entity id is still zwave.eurotronic_eur_spiritz_wall_radiator_thermostat:
Any idea what I should do to have that changed?
So does the zwave.rename_node command no longer work to rename nodes? I’m rebuilding my hassio install (moving from pi to a vm), and zwave is the only place with issues. Half of my devices are correctly named at the node level (and all entities for those nodes are named appropriately). The other half just have a generic name for the node and all entities. I understand you’d prefer we just name all entities individually now, but I want to have a link back to the node. Is that no longer possible?
I have rebuilt mine and finding this to be a total ball ache… I don’t want to rename every single entity for each Zwave device, this is a huge step backward in my opinion.
If anybody wants things to change, open a feature request in the feature request section in this forum.