Alternator light won't shut off.

Yodels All This only started today: My battery died in no time flat and My alternator light won't shut off even with the ignition off and key out. Battery is flat dead. It is an Optima battery and the alternator is about 5 years old. Did the voltage regulator in the alternator fry? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Any suggestions? I have a new alternator I want to put on but don't want to burn it out if there's a short somewhere.

Your battery isn't compleatly dead, or the light wouldn't be on. Try charging the battery first and see if it goes out once you got a good charge. Most likely it will (when the key is off).
Hope its just the alternator. Later model XJ's have the regulator in the ECU, and it's not cheep.

What year/engine is this- I'm researching it on alldata and need more info.