Info on old Gould PC0085 PLC

Hi all,
I am doing some work on a piece of old gear that uses a Gould PC0085 PLC with DO1130 and DI1131 I/O modules. A few questions:

I am looking at picking up a few used or NOS I/O modules so that they can keep as spares. There seem to be plenty around on Ebay, etc. This is all working at present though a recent issue that was thought to be a failed output (turned out to be something else) has made the owner aware that a spare or two would not be a terrible idea.

As I am not a PLC pro (I'm a EE, and have worked with some more current PLC's and control systems in general, but am not so smart about this older gen stuff) I could use some advice from someone familiar with this PLC. A couple of questions, please:

1 - If I were to get replacement I/O modules, are these plug-and-play on this PLC? If I swap a module, do I need to register it with the processor, set dip switches, or any such thing for it to work? Any tips from someone who has used these?

2 - Is there any reasonable way to retrieve the program from the processor? From what I gather, this used a plug-in programmer of some sort, that he does not have. Is there any way to talk to this thing, even if it requires resurrecting one of my antique DOS laptops with real RS232 and parallel ports(!). The thought is of course that if we have the program, we can replace the processor with a new (used) one if this dies. Beyond that, he is thinking he would like to replace this control system with a more modern one with a modern PLC (amongst other things), and having the original program as a starting point would help with designing the program for the new system.

Would very much appreciate any guidance. Thanks very much.

I can help, but, as you said, it is a very old processor. I will PM you a link to the manual that should answer a lot of questions. There is software to program with but it requires a dongle, which I have. It will require a very old computer, probably pre-486 and DOS software.

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply and for the offer to assist. I will reply to your PM directly as soon as I get back home to my own computer (at a friends place now) and will get a look at the manual.

Most generous of you and very much appreciated!
Thanks again,
Al

I searched ebay and found several Hand-Held Programmers, Part # PP-0105.
Here is a link for an example.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GOULD-PP-01...550242?hash=item4d459f4f62:g:wVYAAOSwMNxXXqVN

Getting one of these old Programmers might be easier than resurrecting an old computer for small modifications. The only drawback I see is they used an audio tape recorder to back-up the program. I have read somewhere that using a PC mike input could make a .wav file that could be played back thru the headphone jack. That would bypass the need for an old audio recorder.
To make a functional ladder diagram you would have to understand how the HHP works and draw the ladder out by hand based on the info gathered from the HHP. The HHP only displayed one contact or coil and address at a time.

Thanks. This may be a good method to work around not having the special cable/dongle. The HHP's are pretty reasonable and if I can get it to reliably record to a PC I could transfer the program to another PC0085 (also pretty inexpensive on ebay) that I could send to you to extract with your cable.

I just have begun to look over the manual, it is most helpful. Thanks for sending that link.

Of course getting the program out line-by-line with the HHP is an option as will, if a tedious one. All depends on how desperate it gets, I suppose. Simply having an option to back up the current system is valuable. This is a fairly critical piece of equipment for my friends business, so having the option to have some backup is good insurance to hold the line until the controls can get upgraded to more current stuff.

I will be in touch. Thank you again!

Al