Will it take off or not: replace the photocoupler with a conventional drive?

Question

Electronics

There is a rather unique device and from the interfaces it has only IR
In the process of automating work with it, I would like to be able to send several sequential commands to it from a phone / tablet (ideally WiFi)
I look towards WiFi to Infrared, but I would like to make it even more stable the solution, hence the question - is it possible to connect the devices directly with wires by soldering the photo / LEDs? Will such a "construction" work?

Answer 1

It seems to be yes, but it is necessary to coordinate the signal levels: if the level is below the logic threshold at the receiving end, then nothing will work, and if the level is high, then distortions and all kinds of false positives are possible. If working with an oscilloscope is familiar to you, then you can do it: first, look at what goes to the LED, then - on the receiving side, what comes from the photodetector, and the third stage, connecting the points of the soldered diodes with a shielded wire with a variable resistor for adjustment, achieve a similar level signal. Something like this:
By the way, this business may not work out, because sometimes the current optical transmission channels (for example, remote controls) do not work with direct transmission of pulses, but modulate a certain carrier with a frequency of several tens of kilohertz.