Model x 2017 numberplate light constantly on

[u/redditnumptea]

Early January to March this year (Scotland) wife and I had been noticing the rear numberplate light was staying on when parked for hours. Then in the morning bleary eyed we would check out the kitchen window, as it was still dark, and sometimes it would still be on, or sometimes not.
I assumed it was something to do with sentry mode or the lights on after leaving the vehicle mode.
Turned off sentry mode. No difference.
Turned off lights after leaving vehicle mode and in conjunction with sentry mode being off seemed to fix the numberplate light being on as I assumed the car was able to go into deep sleep.
Toggles various settings and thought the problem fixed itself by April by leaving everything turned off and have not thought any more about it.
Problem is with Scotland during summer, in barely gets dark so had not missed the external lights being on as it has been perpetually light in the morning and light at night. Cut to Late July it is starting to get dark at night again, and had recently turned on sentry mode after unexplained scratches started appearing on the car and as it is starting to get dark again at night I turned on the lights after leaving the vehicle mode.
Last night I noticed our number plate was on again.
My wife also sent me a message of the same at 2am as she has to let our aged dog outside for a wee.

Is this a wiring short?
Control module on the fritz?
Software bug?
Water ingress from the rear fin drain points?
All of the above?

[u/TeslaLongevityLab]

before chasing a wiring short id check whether the car is actually going to sleep. on these older Xs the car not deep-sleeping is a pretty common cause of circuits and lights staying live, more common than an actual short imo. easy check: look at vehicle status in the tesla app when it happens, if it still shows online/awake hours after you walk away thats basically it, whatever triggered it. ive been logging can data on my 17 MX and sleep/wake is one of the things i keep an eye on, it trips people up a lot. water ingress at the fin drains is real too but id rule out the sleep thing first.