Yes the second remote was the same, it just needed pairing as per the instructions that came with the mount. (A case of pressing a hidden pin press button on the mount itself). So then there were two identical remotes - except one I could take apart and ‘play’ with.
To get the second remote working with automation I soldered the addressable pins from a ESP3266 to one side of two octocouplers (see the amazon link above) and the other side soldered to the in/out of a button button pad. I could then use home assistant to control the ESP3266 pins.