Locating parasitic power draw and removing lower instrument

I'm in the middle of fitting a Alex's short shift kit. Along the journey, I've found some non standard wiring, which I believe belongs to an old tracking unit. I've found an Earth wire that goes from the centre console to underneath the steering wheel. I'd like to find out exactly what it is before removing the wiring. I've tried moving the lower panel, it feels like out is one piece? Any one shed some light on this?

which panel do you mean ?

The panel directly underneath the steering wheel, just above the driver's knees, thigh.

Update Didn't fancy taking the dashboard out, so had a good feel around What do we have here :?: The lid fell off, so an internal photo too. Looks like it could be a tracking device fitted in 2012. I've unplugged it, but now I need to find out if the car starts without it. If it does, then great, otherwise I'll have to plug it back in.

Google trafficmaster .. It has no immobiliser in it and can safely be removed . I have a hunch it's not the cause of a battery drain though .

thanks for that, seems to have a lot of wires coming from it. I guess some are to power the device and one to sense ignition on. Wonder what else it's tapped into? I haven't ventured into the ECU area yet, to see if anything is there.

Update You were right about the box'o'tricks. Car drives fine without it. I'll tidy up the wiring. I'm also fitting a dash cam, is there a handy power pickup at the sunroof controls Mr deMort? Need accessory, on all the time and earth. I know I can take it from the headunit wires. I still like to find out what is draining the battery.

Dash cams i've fitted in the past and i run the wires to the fuse box so i know i have a sensible fused feed .. i'm always dubious about using existing feed wires as you always run the risk of overloading that circuit . You could use the interior light wiring but again it's risky , i know dash cams are a low amp unit but im just not comfortable using something like that . Battery discharge .. old school , open the drivers door , drop the latch so the door is open but closed on the latch , lock car with a double blip of the fob and carefully connect an amp meter .. in other words you have to maintain contact to the battery at all times using jumper leads . If you have a 20 amp meter then just connect it and then lock the car , a 10 amp one and your borderline blowing the fuse in the meter . Anyways at that point you measure the discharge .. after 30-40 mins ( lambda burn off draws an amp so you have to wait ) then you start pulling fuses to see which ones drop the amps down to 30 milliamps ... you cant pull any alarm fuses though Or i use an amp hound which is far quicker and will measure current draw on any fuse. Something like this .. https://gb-jbtools.glopalstore.com/cal-van-tools-74-amp-hound/? Once you have a fuse thats drawing high current you can investigate whats on that fuse and go from there .

Thanks for the tips deMort. I've got a current clamp that is switchable to 2A and resolves about 10mA. I guess the AMP HOUND is a sensitive volt meter that determines current draw by measuring the voltage drop?

An amp hound measures current draw across each fuse you put the leads onto .. It will measure 0.1 amp .. very quick and easy to check each fuse for current draw , you then concentrate on those . yes it does .