I want to replace my z-wave dongle with a z-wave/zigbee combo dongle.
Do you have any advice on how to do this? Am I going to have to physically go to each device and exclude it, then swap out the dongle and then add each device again? What out my automations? Will I have to rename each device in the UI again?
Hopefully there’s a better way to do this.
That is likely the best way. The pairing information is stored on the dongle. If the entity names match I think the automations will be OK.
Yes you will need to remove and readd everything. The best thing to do is make sure you reset all the entity names the same. If you do this all your Lovelace/scripts/automations should continue to function The best location for this data is in .storage/core.entity_registery. I would pull a copy of this file before you start, better yet do a full backup 
The main zwave devices will have a unique_id of “node-xx” Each sub entity will have a unique id of “xx-yyyyyyyyyyyy” you could convert this JSON to a table view and paste into google sheets to make it easier to track.
So the bottom line is I have to visit every device twice? Once to exclude/reset, and another to include. Then use the UI to rename the devices back to my old names.
Doing a factory reset is probably the safest way to clear everything I suppose.
If you mean doing that on the old controller, the devices will still think they are paired to the old network.
I meant each zwave device, not the USB stick. Is it possible to just replace the stick and use the same network key and do a repair to rebuild the network on the stick?
No you have to repair all devices when you do this.
How do you issue a repair command? Is that the same as “heal node”?
No re-pair as in use the Add Node button.
Ah… repair vs re-pair. Lol
ya the only device that I can find that allows you to back it up is the ZStick. So I pull mine out after adding nodes and make a copy of the rom. I can always install it on a new stick if needed. Seems like you are going through a lot of work to change out to a zigbee/zwave stick, why not just add a zigbee standalone?
Ugh… I’m supporting someone else’s network and I don’t want to have differing hardware.
Or…
maybe you are over thinking it.
just because you buy the GoControl combo stick doesn’t mean you are forced to use the zwave part of the stick.
I initially bought the Aeotec Z Stick Gen 5 stick and a Conbee zigbee stick. But I never could figure out how to set up the deconz app with HA. So then I returned that stick and bought the GoControl stick (it was Nortek Security then).
I then set up the zigbee portion of the stick and never even used the zwave part. I’m still using my original Aeotec stick for my zwave stuff along side the GoControl stick for zigbee and it works perfectly well.
I believe zwave allows for shifting controllers. I have done it in the past but too long ago to remember the details
Check for instance this https://community.openhab.org/t/solved-transition-from-one-zwave-stick-to-another-how-to/37275
I was able to upgrade from the Aeotec Gen5 to Gen5+ using their backup and restore solution with no issues. Took overnight to rediscover the mesh, but it worked great.