Re: Why a tester shows glow in rectified DC output
Did you make sure your transformer is fine (see posting #2)?
You should draw a capacitor between your primary and secondary winding of the transformer (posting #1), that may help you to understand what happens. The whole secondary circuit (also the wire containing your GND) has AC voltage on it. That can be above 100V, however the current is limited by the capacitance between primary and secondary. If you connect GND to the safety ground (PE), then the tester will not glow anymore. When you put the tester on "DC" and with your other hand you touch GND (posting #1), the tester will not glow.
50 Hz transformers do not have a ferrite core as that would result in a very large transformer (saturation flux density of laminated steel is around 4 .. 5 times higher then ferrite). Ferrite core transformers you see in switched mode power supplies.