12V power supply for easyvibe

[lightningfingers]

Hii, i'm building a power supply for my hot-rodded easy vibe (it has a bulb lfo and consumes massive amounts of power). I Had a 12V 250mA Xfrmr lying around, So i did the usual thing, a full wave rectifier and some filter caps, and I'm seeing ~17VDC at the output which seems normal to me(and I plan on using a regulator). However when I checked for any stray AC at the output there was 28.9V?!?! This to me seems impossible....any ideas what could be happening?

TiA

[Hal]

most meters test for AC by running through a rectifier, then doing some weird math.  DC going into an AC input in a meter _should_ show deflection, although I would assume it should be _less_ than the DC rating, not more.  If you have access to a scope, you can see whats going on more accuritely.

[lightningfingers]

funny, that was my first thought that I should get a scope, but unfortunate lack of funding prevails.....anyway i've been reluctant to plug it into the 'vibe with that reading, i'll replace some some components and see what happens..