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I ran my group through Troll's Spire recently, and we were at a loss to understand the mosaic puzzle in the final room. The text says:

The four parts of the floor mosaic are pressure plates. If the total weight placed on plates A and D (the demons) differs from that of B and C (the dragons), the mechanism is activated and two rounds later an undead guardian in the northern alcove wakes up and attacks. If the weight changes again without achieving balance between dragons and demons, another guardian wakes up. Let the players figure out how to balance the weight and reward their ingenuity.

But what happens when the player characters successfully balance the weight between the pressure plates? The text doesn't seem to say. As far as we could tell it doesn't have anything to do with getting the door open (this only requires that the sapphires be fitted into their sockets on the door) and the text for the undead guardians says they will "fight until they are defeated" so solving the floor mosaic puzzle doesn't seem to affect them either once they're awakened.

I read over the text several times, but couldn't find anything to explain the point of solving the mosaic puzzle. Did we miss something?

I assume it keeps on waking up guardians? Balancing the plates stops it from repeatedly waking its undead protectors.

IE If they dont figure it out and fix the problem they just have a constant threat that keeps on reoccurring.

From the map and the text on p 72 which says "there are three dark alcoves to the north, south and east", and on p 73 Undead Guardians, says "In each of the three alcoves stands a mighty skeleton guardian" I'm thinking that there are three of them, each one awakened in turn when the trap is triggered. I'd probably assume that they can't be attacked before they wake up, else they will just be pinged to death(?) by arrows and spells before they get to do anything.

If the players aren't careful or don't realise they could end up waking all three in quick succession.

I understand what happens when the trap is triggered - the skeletons wake up and fight until defeated. The text does not explain what happens when the players successfully solve the pressure plate puzzle. It doesn't appear to have anything to do with opening the door, or providing access to the treasure.

I think too be honest it isn't linked to the door itself, but it is an additional, separate trap for any would be looters (Door traps them, the floortrap can spring defenders). It's not a trap specifically meant to be "solved" in the sense of "Figure out the puzzle, the trap is disarmed and you can continue on your way." Instead it is more "If you figure out how the trap works, you can avoid a combat encounter", which depending how the players have progressed through the adventure might be very preferable. So if the players figure out how the trap works, they can grab the treasure and figure out the door puzzle without risk of getting attacked.

Except that the text goes to great lengths to describe what happens when they trigger the trap (step on one plate), and then how to "solve" the trap (even weight on two different plates) -- why do that if solving the trap doesn't do anything? Once they trigger the trap, the skeletons are already attacking, and solving the trap doesn't stop them. And, as written, the skeletons don't wake up until two rounds after the trap is sprung, so the players don't really know that they've sprung a trap until they've had two rounds to look around the room.

Plus there's not really anything else to spend time on in the room. The treasure (including the sapphires needed to open the door) is in an open box at the center of the room, and the puzzle to open the door is painfully easy, even without the troll's rhyme: "you just found two octagonal sapphires. There are two octagonal indentations in the image on the door."

I don't understand your point. If they don't trigger the trap then they don't have to fight the undead guardians. That's how it works. Most traps everywhere, if you don't set them off, nothing much happens

My point is that the text presents a puzzle with a solution: apply equal weight to two different areas of the floor (one showing a dragon carving, the other showing a demon). But it doesn't explain what is gained by solving that puzzle.